I'm back! I know many of you are looking for the sequel to Bad Day but this isn't it. Ha,ha. No this is a story for Rikuo. I've given a lot of time to Kazahaya and felt it was time Rikuo got to shine a little. This is another serious fic with a lot of ups and down and twists and turns so you are forewarned.

I give props to Clamp who gave us these characters that we can't seem to get enough of even though so far there are only three volumes of the manga.

I hope this entertains you, makes you think and takes you away from the ordinary. So please, read!

Alone

It was cold and Rikuo shivered. The weather man had said a cold front would move in by tonight and damn if he didn't get it right. Rikuo shivered again and cursed. Had he known any of this was going to happen, he would have planned to wear warmer clothes and he couldn't go back to the store, not anymore.

Rikuo buried his hands in his coat pockets and tucked his chin down. He had no real hiding place to go to, no one he could call for help without putting them in danger. A woman died tonight after just talking to him, there was no way he'd risk the lives of Kazahaya, Kakei or Saiga.

Earlier…

"You okay?" Rikuo asked Kazahaya. They were on a job for Kakei and it was up to Kazahaya to take the item while Rikuo stayed out in the hall on watch.

"No but I'll do it anyway. You'll be close by?" Kazahaya looked up at Rikuo with worried eyes.

"Stupid question, of course I will." He quit speaking as couple of people walked by and as soon they were alone he concentrated on the locked door behind Kazahaya. There was a soft click as Rikuo broke the lock. "All right, go. I'll be two doors down and if I start talking loud, hide."

Kazahaya nodded and braced himself before turning the knob. He slipped inside the dark room and turned on his mini-flashlight. According to Kakei-san, the box was in the dresser, second drawer down. He searched it but the box wasn't there! Panicking just a bit, Kazahaya began searching all the other drawers hoping he had enough time before the room's occupant returned.

"What the hell is he doing in there?" Rikuo muttered under his breath then opened the paper and leaned back against the wall as a woman came around the corner.

She was short with long hair, about twenty-five. She walked right up to Rikuo.

"Himura, Rikuo? I need to talk to you about Tsukiko."

Shock froze him. It was a full minute before he blinked and stood up straight. Rikuo looked around to see if anyone else was near, maybe Tsukiko herself but they were alone.

The newspaper fluttered ever so gently to the floor as Rikuo reached out and grabbed the woman's arms. "How do you know me? And Tsukiko? Did she send you here? Where is she?" Rikuo wanted to shake the answers out of her.

"Shh, I'll tell you what I know." She placed a hand on his chest. "My name is Aisha and Tsukiko and I were friends a long time ago." Aisha looked around making sure they were still alone. "Look I have to make this quick. I'm being followed, have been for a while now."

"What?! By who? Tell me what's going on!" Rikuo's voice was urgent but he kept his tone low.

"I received a call about a year ago from Tsukiko, a couple of weeks before she disappeared, I guess and she asked me that if another year went by without hearing from her that I should find a way to get in touch with you. I went to the drugstore and saw you and your friend leave and followed you here hoping to get a moment with you." Aisha sighed and wondered why she was in the middle of this. Yes, she and Tsukiko had been friends once upon a time but had lost touch years ago. Aisha couldn't figure out why she'd been chosen to deliver this message.

"Himura, she said that if she hadn't come back by now to let her go. Things must have gone wrong and to keep looking for her would only put your life in danger. You see, she knew you would look for her but she wanted you to stop if you hadn't found her by now." Wide,brown eyes looked up at him, "Have you found her, anything about her?" Aisha could tell by the slump of his shoulders that he had not.

"Give it up. Tsukiko gave me the impression that the people she was involved with were very dangerous and the fact that for the last couple of months while I've searched for you, I've been followed, I believe she was right. Live and forget her because she may very well be dead." Aisha whispered.

Rikuo opened his mouth then closed it, shook his head and thought a moment. "I can't. I have to know what happened to her. She may need me and I need to try and help her." He looked up again, they were still alone. "You sure you're being followed? How can you tell? Maybe I can follow them and find out something!"

"They made no secret that they were following me. It's about six different guys – they take turns. They sit outside my apartment. When I leave my job, they're there waiting. I stopped going out because I'd see them in the restaurants with me! I'm hoping that now that I've fulfilled my promise and talked to you, they'll go away and leave me alone." This time her hands grabbed his forearms. "They must know about you for it wasn't until I tried to find you that they showed up. Please Himura, please Rikuo forget trying to find Tsukiko. Theses people are dangerous. Don't endanger yourself or your friends by trying to find her."

Rikuo was about to say something else when a man turned the corner and stared at them before turning around again leaving them alone. Aisha gasped.

"That's one of them! I must go. Forget her, forget all of it!" Aisha broke away from him and ran off in the opposite direction the man had gone.

He would have followed but Kazahaya opened the door and stepped up to him frowning. "Who was that woman? Is something wrong?" Rikuo's expression was dark and there was an air of despair about him.

"Nobody. Did you get it? What took you so long?"

"It wasn't in the drawer Kakei-san said it would be. I had to search the whole room! Rikuo…" He said hesitantly. "Let's go home Rikuo." Kazahaya started to touch his arm but Rikuo pulled back.

"Yeah. Follow me." He was planning as they went out the side exit of the cheap hotel. "Look, just to be on the safe side, let's spilt up. You take the train home and I'll grab a bus. These people might come looking for us; somebody showed up in the hallway but took off before doing anything. Let's make it hard for them to track us, okay?"

Rikuo needed to find that woman again and he wanted to do it by himself. She had to know more than she'd told him. Rikuo saw Kazahaya's curious look and knew if he tried to explain, it would only slow him down. He needed to keep away from Kazahaya, keep the boy from touching him or he would find out what Rikuo was up to. This was something he wanted to do alone. Rikuo stopped and looked down at Kazahaya trying to make his expression lighter.

"Umm, okay if you think that's best. Wanna make it a race to see who get's home first?" Kazahaya knew Rikuo was faking but he went along with it. Obviously he didn't want to talk right now; maybe he could get him to open up later.

"Yeah, sure. Just be careful Kazahaya, okay?" The two boys stared at each other.

"I will, you too." Kazahaya didn't like the feelings he was getting and reached out to touch Rikuo again but the boy was already backing away.

"See you at home." Rikuo said, then with a wave turned and walked away.

Rikuo remembered the worried look on Kazahaya's face and felt bad. He hadn't meant to leave things like that. All he'd wanted was to find Aisha and question her some more but things had turned black as soon as he'd left Kazahaya.

Rikuo had run out to the street and began looking for the woman and he thought he'd gotten lucky when he saw her hailing a cab. He was running to catch up to her when as she stepped out into the street, another car sped towards her. Many people called out telling her to get out of the way but it was no good. The car knocked her feet from out under Aisha and sent her flying into the air. She tumbled down, crashed onto the hood, bounced off then hit the ground hard.

The car backed up a few feet and stopped. Rikuo had continued to run to Aisha when he took a moment to look into the car. It was the man from the hallway! He looked over at Rikuo and smiled before putting the car in drive and running over Aisha's prone body. If the woman hadn't been dead, she was now.

Rikuo hadn't gone over to the body – couldn't. It was all he could do to keep from throwing up. He began to walk away when he stepped on something, it was her purse. Rikuo didn't think but picked it up, stuck it inside his coat and kept walking. Nobody saw him; all eyes were on the unfortunate woman bleeding in the middle of the street.

Rikuo stopped to check if he was in the right place. He looked up and confirmed the address. He'd gone to Aisha's apartment. He was too scared to go home. If these men, whoever they were had killed Aisha just for talking to him, what would they do to the people he cared about? Rikuo figured he'd have only the one night to hide there before the police figured out who Aisha was and come by her place.

He went up the stairs to the second floor, used her key and let himself in. The place was a wreck – someone had beaten him there and torn it apart but now it was empty. Rikuo closed and locked the door and let his body slide down to the floor. Head back, eyes closed and arms crossed over his stomach he asked, "What in the hell am I going to do now?"