The gift.

"Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me."~ Carl Sandburg

Sometimes she just hated mornings.

Kaoru couldn't help but sigh as she stood before the closed paper doors of her father's-no, hers now- dojo. Inside she could hear the scuffles and the snorts and the scratch of nails over wooden floors that told her that there was a Keukegen inside. Long black hair and tiny enough to pass for a small dog, the creature on its own was harmless enough for a demonic kind of creature. The only problem was that they tended to carry diseases in the same way that rats did and with no way of knowing whether it was clean or not, she had no choice but to force it out.

Painfully aware of the letter she received a month ago still glaring at her from its spot on the low table in her living room, Kaoru was all too glad to allow the household chores to distract her from the uncertain future ahead. So she pulled on the ropes holding her wide sleeves back and tightened her grip on the battered but trusty broom in her hands. The moment she slid open the door of the dojo she could see it slink back into the small shadows that were still there this early in the morning. Most people would have missed it, never have known it was in their home at all. Plenty of people fell repeatedly ill because of these creatures but with ready alibis like allergies at hand, it was rare for them to call for people with the gift to see them. People like Kaoru but more willing to meddle in the matters of the 'afterlife'. The assistant instructor was quite content being just that and not deal with things like demons and ghosts and all the other critters she pretended not to see, thank you very much.

"Shoo!" She ordered more than cried, shoving the broom hard into what she guessed was the rear of the Keukegen ( it was a little hard to tell when it came to these critters).

"Go bother someone else! Out with you!" She continued, making brushing motions as she chased the black furry creature out of her it took a little longer than she would have liked and she ended up flushed and breathing heavily by the time it finally slunk to the shadows of the walls separating her home from the neighbours. The shadows bulged with the creature and she saw a ripple of them rise and then fall over the top of the thin wall. She would have to think of an excuse to make one of those exorcist-people drop by her neighbour's later, and preferably one who didn't rip off the ordinary folk as much as most did. She was sure she could dive into her father's old books and find some kind of spell to vanquish it if she wanted to but the thought of going through his things was still too painful. Besides, she tried not to vanquish the creatures she saw at all if she could help it. No matter what form, she never liked killing and too much of her family's nonlethal sword art was already ingrained within her.

Leaning heavily on the same battered broom that had swatted at the behind of the Keukegen Kaoru took her time to overlook that what had always been her home. The property her father-no she now- owned was still moderately modest but it had enough room for the dojo to stand separately and still leave enough room for a proper garden. Neither she nor her father had much of a green thumb, so other than the well there was little to make use of said room. And only a path leading to the front of her home and to her dojo, thick slates of stones that followed each other just a tad unevenly, was there to serve as decoration.

It had never appeared as too big for her and her father but now that it was just Kaoru it felt a little overwhelming. Every chore she would have to do herself and she would also have to take on what had always been his job exclusively. Things like maintenance on the roof; there was just no way for her to make enough money to hire someone to do it for her. The grief of losing her father along with the heavy responsibility of keeping the dojo afloat settled slowly on her shoulders to form a heavy weight.

Just as she was about to allow herself to despair, just a little to get it out of her system, did the copper bell that hung by her front gate ring. She blinked in surprise because it was too early for her students and with all her time being consumed teaching them; she didn't have that many friends. The only friend she had had just send her a postcard from the other side of Japan, and no matter how fast Sanosuke could run, that ruled him out. Setting the broom against one of the pillars that supported the roof of her home, Kaoru made sure her hands were free to greet her unexpected visitor.

She hadn't expected to see Yahiko.

To say that she only took human students would be a downright lie as there were three other kinds of creatures in her class in total and Yahiko was one of them. Kaoru had learned, as a child, that most of the superstitions her people had about demons and ghosts and other creatures were either inaccurate or highly exaggerated. Her father had never possessed her gift, though he was aware of it, and this had allowed her to keep quiet and so trick her father into taking in all worthy of the Kamiya sword style, not just the humans.

It would be fair to say that Yahiko had always, secretively, been her favourite out of all of her (human and non-human) students.

Proud enough for it to get in his way, Yahiko had often found trouble that required him to defend himself and in the middle of one of those troubles, her father had picked him up and taken him under his wing as a student. His eyes were dark but they never failed at showing what he felt, whether it was the deep brown shade of determination or the almost black that revealed his troubled home. He never complained, his pride wouldn't let him, but sometimes he would show bruises that weren't the result of the wood of the bokken used in sparring. He was wearing one of such bruises now, a thick swelling on his left cheek that wasn't there yesterday. He glared up at her from under the black hair of his bangs and the movement made her realize he was also sporting a black eye. He wasn't glaring at her in anger but rather in that stubborn proud way that she had got used to seeing from him. It was the look of a boy who lost everything but his pride and he clung to it desperately.

"Yahiko?" She questioned when he remained silent and in response she saw his hands curl into tight fists that painted his knuckles white.

"I can't come to practise anymore, Ugly." He bit out the words with such force that she could practically see the bile rise from the back of his throat.

He was shaking with what she guessed was a mixture of despair and anger and his ears were lowered to the point of pressing to his skull. Only pride kept his tail from creeping between his legs but it was nevertheless curled inwards. Yahiko was one of the students that were not human and though Kaoru wasn't very knowledgeable about demons she knew this kind: Tanuki. She had always had a certain attraction to the racoon/dog-like creatures and with Yahiko it was no different.

Tanuki had the reputation of being mischievous and jolly if a little gullible and absentminded and were experts in disguise. It had taken her a while to recognise these traits in Yahiko, who only seemed far too proud and lonely to her but she didn't know anyone who had the boy's laugh when he allowed it to be heard and there was definitely mischief glinting in his eyes every time he insulted her. Tanuki were shape shifters and she guessed that they used some kind of magic tied to that as well for none of her other students ever seemed to notice Yahiko's tail or ears. The boy seemed to prefer to pretend to be human like the rest of them.

"What do you mean you can't come to practise?" She demanded when he remained silent after his little declaration. Her blue eyes flashed with indignation and habit made her put her hands on her hips as she glared down at her favourite student, "I didn't realize you were getting lazy, idiot."

"I can't afford to pay for classes," Yahiko spit out rather than answered, a dull flush slowly creeping up from under his collar. His shame and embarrassment was written all over his easily read face and his tail flickered angrily as he continued, "I need the money for food and shelter."

It seemed that his caretakers had finally made the decision to kick him out. The boy never revealed much but Kaoru had picked up enough to know that both his parents had died when Yahiko was young. In whoever's care the boy had ended up, they had made it quite clear that it wasn't an arrangement that was to last and that it was a very unwilling one indeed. Truthfully it wouldn't surprise the assistant instructor if the tanuki had walked out of that home himself.

To Kaoru's credit, she only hesitated for long enough to wonder whether she was able to take care of them both rather than just willing before she uttered an exaggerated sigh.

"Mou," She drawled out before reaching out to rest her hand on the boy's head. His ear gave way under the weight of her hand and on instinct his head lowered a little in instant submission. Yahiko cringed, expecting something painful but Kaoru only shifted her grip until his black locks tangled easily with her pale fingers so that she could use his hair to gently tug him inside the walls of her home.

"It was about time that my apprentice…" She stressed the word quite deliberately, meeting Yahiko's surprised brown eyes with her confident blue's, "…moved into a place where I can keep a better eye on him. You're going to have to get used to sore muscles because it's about time your training stepped up and I won't allow you to slack off. And I'm not going to do all the chores by myself, you know."

She grinned down at him, using his surprise to usher him a few steps deeper into her garden and then onwards towards her home.

"Idiot, starting extra training without me. Now, before we can do anything we got to take care of your bruises." She continued her supposed "grumbling" as Yahiko still seemed unable to believe his ears and when he searched her expression she allowed herself a tiny wink. Immediately he huffed and crossed his arms and both his chin as his ears once again rose proudly.

"That's what you get for being so slow at recognizing supreme talent. I couldn't wait on you forever, Ugly."

They bickered all the way back to her-no theirs now- home.

It took them no more than a week to settle into living together and to redefine their relationship.

Yahiko was startled when she revealed that she had always known what he was but it had made things a lot easier on the both of them afterwards. With Yahiko free to admit to his non-human status, he could ask for the things he needed rather than sneaking them in somehow. Kaoru hadn't minded shifting her diet a little to better suit the growing racoon-dog, she liked tofu well enough but his need for extra meat was far from unpleasant.

A little more difficult was the excess energy that the boy seemed to have. Even after having completed a thousand swings with his bokken as ordered, the boy still managed to find the energy to bicker endlessly with her. She often found herself reduced back to inventing new chores for him to do just to avoid the urge to strangle him. Nevertheless Yahiko proved to be a welcome distraction from the death of her father and with his own misery still weighing on his shoulders, he ended up also being an unexpected source of understanding. Together they rebuild their lives and even when the students ended up slowly leaving the dojo, forcing Kaoru to begin teaching outside of it, they were happy enough. They managed fine with just the two of them and the occasional letter of Sanosuke whom Yahiko still only knew by name.

It was well over a year before their little seclusion was interrupted by said man.

Kaoru had just turned eighteen, Yahiko now was what had to be the equivalent of a ten-year-old, but they had done little to celebrate this fact. Truthfully the raven haired woman had been caught up in the sudden surge of dojo's requiring an extra hand and carefully setting aside the extra money that it brought her. The only thing that she had done was give in to Yahiko's teasing and buy one small present for herself: a deep blue silken cloth to tie up in her hair. She was just fastening it in her hair still damp from her bath; she had just returned teaching, when she could swear there was a change of wind in the air. It wasn't something she could see so much as something she sensed and it drove her to distraction, forcing her to pull out the cloth from her hair and retie it because of her earlier messy job.

"Yahiko?" She called for her student, frowning a little as she gathered her kimono around her before rising. She opened the paper door from her room and after two steps another one and somehow managed to gather speed between the two. Something was…different. Not wrong but different and it nagged at her senses until she couldn't help but haste.

She found Yahiko glowering up at a man who was almost twice his height and looking completely at home in her garden.

Cocky grin, hair all over the place and dark eyes glinting with a dark kind of humour, Sanosuke was exactly how she remembered him. That which had tensed around her shoulders now relaxed at the sight of her old friend and before Kaoru could stop it her lips cracked into a grin.

She had met Sanosuke when she was still too young to understand what was weird, or wrong, or different and what was considered normal. With her thick hair already escaping the two braids her mother had tried to tame it in, she had escaped her parent's notice long enough to go hunt for toads. Or perhaps it would be fairer to say they allowed her to wander off while they themselves settled beneath the shade of the tree with a picnic basket between them.

It had been an unusually hot summer until the grass beneath her feet was already showing signs of dehydration and more wildlife had been looking for the relief of the cool stream. She had just settled her eye on a big warty toad, both hands ready to snatch it, when a rooster had appeared out of nowhere and ruined her chance. The bird had pecked at the toad at the same time that she had reached for it and she ended up with a small red spot to show for it. She had complained, she had heard the flutter of a chicken's wing and suddenly there had been a boy, her age, with his eyebrows knotted together in a concerned frown. She barely blinked at his sudden appearance, accepting it as only a child could, and had played with him all afternoon, the boy, the rooster…

The Basan.

"Sano!" She cried, already opening her arms because Sano was looking away from her glowering apprentice to grin a familiar grin at big arms scooped her up easily, because the muscles revealed by his open jacket did not quite do justice to his immense strength, and she laughed as he spun her. There was something a little wiser in her friend's eyes, the wisdom of foreign lands and the endless adventures he must've already had, but other than that he was still the man she knew. He put her down as gently as she knew he would.

"I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me. It's been a month since your last letter, too." She said, already reaching out to tug Yahiko closer. Her student wasn't very fond of strangers, a leftover from his troubled childhood, but there was a curiosity in his gaze. He had heard her stories about Sanosuke after all so all he needed was a little push. And Kaoru was good at pushing.

"Sorry, sorry," Sanosuke replied easily, carelessly waving his hand as if she had nothing to be concerned about, "I just got held up, that's all. I'm here to stay for a bit." His gaze shifted to Yahiko and noted her hand on his shoulder, "So this is your famous apprentice, huh?"

Beneath her hand she felt Yahiko relax and without looking at him she knew that he was grinning again. Nevertheless she gave him an affectionate squeeze the moment he answered her old friend, "The one and only!"

"Yahiko has been eager to see your fire trick." She admitted to Sanosuke, grinning as Yahiko glowered at her.

The Basan, traditionally, was viewed as a fire breathing chicken. According to legends, it disappeared whenever you heard the clap of its wings. Kaoru knew, now, that only the younglings actually changed into the bird form and that the fire wasn't caused by their breaths. Instead Sanosuke's right hand could hold a fire that did not burn but did crush boulders and break bones.

She had to be thankful for the fact that Sano was on her side.

"Sorry, kid-"

"Don't call me kid!"

"But I don't actually breathe fire," Sanosuke continued as if Yahiko hadn't objected, "And right now I'm too hungry for it, anyway."

"Well you're going to have to wait; I haven't had time to cook yet." Kaoru mercilessly ruined his hopeful look towards the kitchen, "But you can set your things in the guest room while I cook."

"Not that that is much to look forward to." Her apprentice grumbled and earned himself a good whack on the back of his head without the assistant instructor ever having lost her smile.

Dinner was mostly about catching up, sharing information that could not be shared in letters.

It kept them occupied enough that even Yahiko forgot to complain about her cooking. Sanosuke had been all over Japan it seemed and though he seemed open and cheerful, Kaoru got the nagging sense that something had happened. For one, he had had a misunderstanding between him and a human and usually dealings between the two races left consequences for both of them. However Sano made no comment about anything coming out of it and that left her with a weird feeling. And another thing that bothered her that he seemed especially vague about how long he lingered where. She knew it was in the nature of Basan to wander but usually he wasn't this vague about how long he stayed in the towns he encountered. In fact, it could be said that Sano held some pride for the things he had seen and the towns he had wandered into without them ever knowing what he was.

She held back her questions until after dinner and waited for them to settle in the living room with tea for her and Yahiko and some sake for Sanosuke. Yet the Basan must've guessed her mood because he quickly put down his sake before grinning and reaching into his white vest with one hand and thoroughly distracting her from her questions. She didn't even know he kept pockets there.

"Ah! Before I forget…" He muttered before pulling out a round object that fit neatly into the palm of his hand, "Here ya go."

And without further ceremony he tossed the round object in her lap. The man didn't even bother to sit up from his cushion. Not that she could blame him; with the paper door half-open to the patio outside it allowed a gentle breeze to flow right past him into the living room. Yahiko, too, lingered near the open door and she wasn't sure whether it was the fact that they were both men or that they were both demon that made them endlessly capable of being comfortably warm. She was more comfortable from her place sheltered behind the closed part of the door, right besides the tea tray.

Kaoru turned her attention from the boys to instead study her unexpected present. It felt heavy when she picked it up, or at least heavier than expected, and was made out of a dark wood that she couldn't recognise off the bat. In her smaller palm it suddenly looked a lot bigger than it did when Sano held it; it filled her palm up till her first knuckle, leaving the rest of her fingers to curl around it. The object was made out of two round parts that pressed together but she could see by the hinge that they could be opened. She didn´t open it yet but instead let her fingers run over the carvings, only now noticing the face of a demon upon it.

It was the well known face of the Namahage.

The Namahage was a demon known best for being a disciplinary one, both to child and man. Every year, at certain festivals, men dressed up as Namahage would visit the homes of families and warn children not to be lazy in their role as said demon. They would bring a message that the parents requested, looking frightening with their long bushy red hair and big gleaming fangs so that they could scare the children in complying. It was said actual Namahage would visit men dozing by their fires and wake them up if they found they were sleeping for too long. There were many stories telling that they could be heard asking whether the knives were sharp yet or the bean soup ready and warning of consequences should the human they were talking to continue being lazy. Legends about these hard working demons were well known, Kaoru had been entertained by the stories as a child but she couldn´t quite see why Sano chose to give this to her now. The face of a demon, after all, was hardly a pretty trinket to give to a woman.

"Sano?" She questioned, unable to stop herself from frowning. It was hard to ignore Yahiko's snickering as he realized what figure was carved into the wood and she felt her eyebrow beginning to twitch. "Why did you give me this?"

"Relax Missy," Sano grinned at her, using his nickname for her on purpose, "Why don't you open it before you draw your conclusions?"

The man had a point and so she pushed away her annoyance to curiously tilt the wood in her hands. She found a small latch holding the two parts together and with some careful peeling it came undone. The two parts parted from one another to reveal a gleaming mirror within. Kaoru saw her own surprised face looking back at her before she turned to look at her childhood friend questioningly.

"Don't you girls have an obsession with lookin' good or something?" Sano questioned, awkwardly scratching the back of his head and sending her a sheepish grin, "The guy at the stall said you'd get some good use out of it."

"Sure," Yahiko took his opportunity with such a mischievous grin that only a Tanuki could really pull it off, "After the scare of the demon her own face doesn't look that bad."

He earned a good whack on the back of his head for his trouble but Kaoru nevertheless fought back a sigh. What was wrong with cherry blossoms carved into the wood? Or even horses? Not that she had a thing for horses but they were certainly more feminine than a demon and she was acting enough as a man as it was. There must've been something in her face for Sano's shoulders lowered in disappointment.

"You don't like your birthday gift?"

Some gift.

"No! I mean yes! No, really, I like it. I just…" Kaoru turned the mirror over in her hands, searching for words before finally sighing and offering him a teasing smile, "I just didn't expect a present from you, that's all. You usually forget."

"Well I didn't this time!" Sano swore, but the speed with which she said it made her suspicious.

Smiling to herself (because he had thought about her birthday and weird present or no, too late for the actual date or no, that was kind for a demon) Kaoru turned the mirror over in her hands again but this time paused at the other side. She had thought that only one of the two wooden exteriors was carved but now that she was looking at it more closely she could see a name scratched into the wood. It was faint, already worn to the point of beginning to disappear but there nevertheless.

"There's a name here!" She shared her findings with her friends, ignoring the way Sano was carefully holding his cup of sake away from her curious student, "Himu-"

"Oh I almost forgot!" Sano interrupted her quickly. He pulled a knife out, though she wasn't sure from where, and handed it to her. It was a small knife, hardly better than a letter opener and not quite sure what to do with the thin steel she only stared blankly at the rooster. Sanosuke sighed and gestured to the mirror still in her hands.

"You're supposed to carve your name in the back." He said, and something about his dark brown eyes seemed a little too intense for the conversation they were having. As if, for some reason, it was important that she did. When she didn't move a muscle he sighed and gestured impatiently to the mirror again as he added, "For luck!"

Knowing how superstitious he was, Kaoru couldn't help but smile again but for his sake she obliged. It took her a while to scratch the name besides the other kanji already there, and she felt just a tad guilty. The wood she uncovered with her knife, the deep cuts, was lighter than the rest of the wood and she couldn't help but feel a bit like a vandal. Yahiko took her distraction as an opportunity to bicker with Sanosuke and Kaoru let him; it was good for the boy to make male friends. Lately it had been just the two of them and she knew that he was eager to have some kind of a male role model.

Not that Sano was exactly the perfect candidate for the job but he would have to do for now.

Grinning Kaoru finished the last symbol and as she did so she couldn't help but feel a bit fond of her birthday present. Perhaps it was the fact that Sano, who usually pretended he didn't know she was a girl, acknowledged her feminine side. Or perhaps it was the dark colour and the smooth surface of the wood. Whatever it was, she felt that her fortune might be a little more lucky from now on. Absently she ran her fingers over her own name, feeling the rough edges of the wood scrape over her thumb before she pulled it back a little to study the back.

Himura Kenshin, it said in vague kanji that seemed much more part of the wood than the brighter, freshly cut, kanji besides it.

Kamiya Kaoru.

Well, it was officially hers now.

On a whim she opened the mirror to look into it and promptly dropped it. Sano and Yahiko were still bickering and with her hart in her throat she turned an uncertain eye towards them but they had really seen nothing. She was…she had been sure. There had been a man, a man with fierce red hair and golden eyes staring back at her. It had just been a flash but the woman was sure she had seen something. With careful trembling fingers she picked up the mirror again braced herself as she opened it.

All that was staring back at her was her own reflection.

Well it had been a long day, she had to admit, and perhaps that was doing things to her imagination and eyesight. Tiredly she rubbed her eyes, trying to calm her racing heart and completely missed the glance Sano send her way. There were no men who made a habit out of living in mirrors anymore than there were men on the moon. She was more worried now where she would have conjured such an imagination from than that she worried about what she had seen. Finishing her cup of tea she came to a decision and softly cleared her throat to catch the other's attention.

"I'm going to bed. Yahiko, try not to stay up much longer I won't take it easy on you just because Sano's here." She announced, stretching lazily as she got to her feet and contently ignoring her student's protest. She took a moment to look Sanosuke in the eye and offer him a genuine smile as she added, "Thank you for the present, Sano."

"No problem, Missy." Sano waved her off.

"Do you need anything for the guest room?"

"Nah, I knew where everything was."

"Alright, good night."

"Night." Both men chorused, and Kaoru lightly waved at them before returning to her bedroom.

But back in her bedroom sleep completely evaded her. She was putting off going to bed and taking her time to brush her hair in front of the long mirror that had once belonged to her mother. She already got all the knots out but she was not quite ready to braid it just yet, not with her mind still so full of questions. What she had seen would not let her go, could not be explained and it troubled the raven haired woman. Kaoru's eyes kept returning to the mirror Sano had given her, sitting innocently on the not-so-neatly folded pile of clothes of today. Her brushing slowed, she hesitated but then in an impulsive move she leaned over to grab it again.

By the flickering light of the only lit lamp in her room she could make out that unfamiliar name besides her own.

"Himura Kenshin." She uttered, just to get a feel of this name that belonged to a complete stranger. She wondered what kind of man he was because it was definitely a man's name but as far as she knew not many men had the habit of carrying around mirrors.

"Yes, this one is here, that I am."

Kaoru's heart leapt to her throat and then to her parted lips to escape there in a shriek of utter terror. She only saw a flash of red and a scar and not golden but violet eyes before she tumbled and then turned to crawl on hands and knees away from her mother's mirror. Vaguely she heard an innocent sounding "Oro?" behind her but her priority was distance and she had no room for anything else until she got said distance. Only with her back against the paper door and with the sound of the running footsteps of Yahiko and Sano to comfort her did she dare to look back into her mother's long mirror.

He was still there. And much larger now not convinced to her tiny hand-held mirror.

His violet eyes were widened comically before a sheepish smile was curving his lips. He was holding up his hands in a placating gesture and kneeling within her mirror but his flaming red hair betrayed him.

Namahage.

"Kaoru!" Yahiko and Sanosuke came bursting into her room, looking worried but only finding her with her back against the wall and with no immediate threat in sight. Her door wasn't made for the violence with which the boys opened it in their haste but at the moment it was the furthest thing from her mind. Kaoru raised a trembling hand to point at the mirror and thus to the red-head's vaguelly concerned expression and tried to speak.

"He…he…he…" Her throat felt tight, she couldn't blink and he was still there.

"Ah…" Sano drawled and the sheepish note in his voice spelled doom rather than comical relief to her, "I see you met Kenshin."

"Who is Kenshin?"