Disclaimer: We do not own Rurouni Kenshin or their likeness.

Legalronin here! Hey. Awhile ago FallenAngelItachi sent me a message asking if I would be interested in working together and I was flattered. So here it is, our join project. A Halloween tribute! The idea for this story really was FallenAngelItachi's, I just had the idea for the theme and wrote this chapter.

Thank you to FallenAngelItachi for this opportunity and for her patience. I recently got a job and it's sucking the life out of me so this whole process was a lot slower then I wanted it to be.

Happy Halloween!

I will be back to co-write the final chapter! I hope you enjoy our story.

The moon hung over the clear and crisp night of October, a silent witness. The night, however, was not silent as a scream tore through the peace.

- The Crime Scene -

A tall lean man with narrow amber eyes looked up at the moon. In a few days time it would be full, but that didn't matter right now. Saitou shut the car door. Right now Saitou Hajime was a Detective and what did matter was the scene waiting for him just ahead.

"Late night shifts are the worst. I am going to have bags under my eyes for sure."

Saitou turned to his friend and co-worker, Okita Souji. Okita was a good-looking man, shorter then Saitou but that wasn't hard to be, Saitou was above average. Despite the friendship between them they were quite different people. Where Saitou was intimidating and exuded an air of danger, Okita was warm and inviting. He put people at ease. Good cop bad cop if you will.

"Quit your whining." Saitou said.

"Nights are for fun, not work." Okita continued, well aware he was annoying his friend.

"Who says this isn't fun?" Smirked Saitou.

Okita looked at Saitou with mock horror on his face, "Work fun?! We're not all workaholics like you."

Despite his friend's protests Saitou knew Okita loved his job and the thrill of the hunt, predator versus prey. "It must suck to be you because there's work to be done."

"What?" Okita stopped walking, surprised. "It does not suck to be me. I am way better looking!"

Saitou continued to walk towards the center of the commotion. "Tch, too bad you're stupid."

"You're just jealous of my youthful good looks."

The two continued their back and forth, despite the seriousness of the scene around them, walking up to a woman bent over a mess of a corpse.

"Are you two bickering again?" said the woman, not even looking at them, as she stood up and snapped off latex gloves and pushed her glasses to sit on top of her head.

"Tokio-chan," Okita whined out to the woman. "Aren't you bothered to be working so late?"

Tokio looked over at the assistant detective and smiled. "No. I don't mind. It's not like it can be helped."

"There should be laws against this."

Tokio blinked confused, "There are laws against murder."

Saitou groaned, "Don't encourage him." Tokio turned and looked at the man unsure what he meant.

At least she wondered until Okita let out a long-suffering sigh. "There should be laws against working handsome men to the ground. If you and Saitou want to miss out on beauty sleep that's fine but this skin does not stay youthfully fresh on its own you know."

Saitou turned his full attention on Tokio, ignoring Okita who continued to ramble on. "What do you have for me?"

"Headache medicine?" Tokio said.

Saitou's lip twitched into an involuntary smile. "Don't let that good-for-nothing influence you."

Tokio shook her head, it was time for business, "We have a young male, probably early to mid 20s, face completely unrecognizable –"

"Sexy." Okita stated.

Tokio continued, " – he was viciously attacked. He wasn't killed here though."

Saitou surveyed the victim while Tokio spoke. The victim's face was mauled beyond recognition, and despite what should have been a messy crime the area around the body was clean. It would have made any normal person sick but as Detective, Saitou was more than used to it. He ground his teeth, snapped on some gloves, and gingerly studied the corpse.

"Any identification found?"

Tokio came and squatted near Saitou, "Oh plenty. We found some teeth and we can take some fingerprints –"

Saitou gave the forensic scientist a flat look, "You know what I meant. Wallet? ID?"

"No, and try and be more specific next time Detective. I don't read minds." Saitou raised an eyebrow and Tokio saw that right now was not the time for games. She continued on, "The perp took a lot of care to keep his tracks clean no footprints, no tire marks, nothing."

Saitou asked, "How long has he been dead?"

"A few hours at most. Still fresh."

Okita looked around, "This is a fairly deserted area. It wouldn't be hard to go unnoticed and dump a body here."

"Ah" Saitou said, his mind working fast. He turned to Okita, "Witness?"

"Nah, well the woman that found the body." Okita said.

Saitou thought it over, "Let's go talk to her. Then I want to walk around the area."

"You got it boss."

Saitou looked up at the building and frowned. This was no random attack.

- At the Station –

Tokio watched as Saitou and Okita walked into the forensics lab. As soon as they walked in Saitou frowned and Okita's nose twitched. It made her smile. "Something wrong gentlemen?"

"Gentlemen?" Saitou smirked. "You're half right."

"That's right Tokio-chan." Okita nodded, sharing a look with Saitou, "That one over there is actually a wolf in human's clothing!"

Tokio laughed, "Does that mean you're hairy Saitou-san?"

Okita whooped with laughter, "I think she wants to see you shirtless!"

Saitou grinned, sometimes this was all too easy, and in a low rumble he asked, "Is that so?" Then moving in a little closer, he could smell her hair it was refreshing especially in a room where death and chemicals hung in the air, "That's hardly appropriate for work."

Okita crossed his arms and nodded, "True, True. Tokio-chan you should stop imaging Saitou without his shirt on. We have work to do."

Tokio blinked before turning bright red, "That's not what I meant at all!" She then walked away from Saitou. "S-s-so I found something interesting."

Saitou chuckled and Okita's snickering quieted down.

Tokio stiffened as Saitou came to stand next to her; she kept her eyes on the victim, unable to look at him. "Your victim shot himself in the foot."

Saitou took a look at the victim's right foot, where there was indeed a bullet wound. "During the struggle or just an inexperienced mistake."

"Odd. The corpse looked so clean." Said Okita.

"The perp wouldn't have wanted to touch this particular bullet." Tokio said as she held up the bullet in question. "It's silver."

Saitou and Okita muttered "Werewolf" at the same time.

"Right. If it wasn't obvious before, I also found hair stuck under our victim's nails and they came back as belonging to a were." Tokio placed her glasses on the end of her nose and showed them the victim's hands.

Okita scratched behind his ear, "Okay, who's our faceless friend then?"

"No friend of ours." Saitou growled. "He was anti-were activist."

Tokio nodded, "I ran his fingerprints through the system and got a hit. It's just as Saitou-san said. Sato right there, was very active against weres."

"Ah." Saitou crossed his arms. "Our victim was sought out and his body left as a message."

Okita's mouth rounded out as he said, "Oh. So that building really was where they held their" here Okita threw up some air quotes, "secret meetings."

Saitou nodded. "This isn't the first attack and it won't be the last."

Tokio sighed. "The hate continues." And all three nodded.

Despite their co-existence weres, as in werewolves, and humans were hardly given equal rights. Weres registered upon birth and the great majority lived in secluded communities, on the outskirts of society. Shunned. There were few that hid their status in order to lead "normal lives" amongst humans but that was not the norm.

Crimes against humans by weres, and vice versa, were not uncommon. This was just another hate crime.

-Saitou's Office -

Saitou dropped into his chair and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. "Nothing." He ground out.

He let his hands drop onto the armrests of his chair, turning so he could look at the board by his desk. The board was covered in notes, pictures, times, and a map. It was how Saitou organized his thoughts but it was of little help right now.

"Black coffee for the black-hearted Detective." Okita placed Saitou's coffee on the desk. He took a seat across from Saitou, taking a sip of his own coffee and said, "Sweet and delicious coffee for the best Detective."

"Assistant." Saitou corrected taking his coffee in hand. "That's not even coffee, it's coffee flavored sugar."

"It's my own special mix of chocolate and coffee and it's delicious."

"The smell alone can rot teeth."

Okita shrugged and continued to drink. The two drank in silence for a few minutes, looking and thinking over the case.

Okita broke the silence, "How'd it go with the family?"

Saitou glared and ground his back teeth before saying, "Not a single threat, nothing suspicious. Our perp wanted it to look random."

"Maybe it was . . . he'll mess up sooner or later."

"Four victims, all anti-were activists, and all moved from where the initial crime occurred. We still don't know where that is."

Okita nodded, "And all found outside of some building linked with the anti-were movement."

"Ah." Saitou blew air out his nose. "The attacks have occurred once a month, just before the full moon."

"I hate the waiting game. So what do we do until next month? How do we stop the next attack?"

Saitou said nothing. They had nothing. They had officers searching the surrounding areas where the bodies were found but so far they hadn't been able to determine where the victims had actually been killed.

Okita sighed, "We don't even know if it's a rogue were or a pack."

At that moment, someone knocked, Tokio peeked before walking in, "You're still here? You should get something to eat." The atmosphere changed suddenly with Tokio's arrival.

Saitou and Okita looked at one another, too easy.

"You're right Tokio-chan, I am hungry like the wolf." Okita said.

Saitou smirked, looking Tokio up and down, "And you look delicious." Tokio rolled her eyes, blushing, causing Saitou to say, "You should know better then to walk into a wolf's den."

Tokio let out a long-suffering sigh, "You two and your pathetic jokes. I brought you the final autopsy report and some good news –"

"Finally good news!"

"Shut up and let her talk."

Tokio rolled her eyes again, "You're looking for a werewolf." Tokio raised her hand to keep them from saying something smart and gave them a flat look, "As in one werewolf, not a pack. All the victims were killed by the same wolf."

"Are you sure?" Saitou asked.

"Yea, how do you know?" asked Okita.

Tokio placed her hands on her hips and glared at the men, "Because I know how to do my job?"

Saitou raised an eyebrow and with a smirk said, "Then do your job and explain."

Tokio and Saitou stared at each other, silently willing the other to look away. It was Tokio that looked away first. "The teeth markings are the same. In each victim your murderer left behind a bite mark and the mark is consistent in all four victims"

Okita looked impressed. "Wow. I didn't notice any bite marks."

"That's why it's her job." Before Tokio or Okita could respond, Saitou's phone began to ring. He looked at the caller-id before picking it up, answering it with some annoyance.

Okita walked over to Tokio and whispered, "I think it's his intended."

Tokio whispered back, "Intended? You mean fiancé?"

"Nope. Intended. She intends to marry him no matter what."

"What about Saitou-san?"

"Will you shut up?" Saitou snapped out.

"Yep. It's Yaso." Okita said.

- At a café, as luck would have it, not too far from the Police Station -

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"There was another werewolf attack!"

The man heard the woman gasp and the women lowered their voices, casting cautious glances his way. It was no good though; the man could still hear them and their words just aggravated him.

"But how? It's not even a full moon! And you know what I don't get? Is why not turn people, why kill them?"

"You watch too many movies! Werewolves can turn wolf whenever and I don't think they can turn humans. Why would they want to anyways? They're beasts."

The man crushed his newspaper in his hands, the women turned to look at him before huddling closer together, their opinion wasn't unusual and it was an opinion that kept him from finding a decent job, and brought forth oppressive laws. Laws that required every werewolf to register upon birth and live in secluded communities away from humans. It was infuriating. These humans knew so little about his kind but they labeled werewolves beasts and monsters. Ignorance. It was all ignorance. They were the real monsters.

He flicked his eyes up to look at the women, and saw their disgust as they continued to discuss werewolves. His hands trembled in anger.

The women got up and left the shop, going their own ways. After a short pause the man left his table following behind one of the women. It was a bit early but why should he wait until next month? He was angry and someone should pay.

- At the station -

"Ah." Tokio stretched her arms above her head and arched her back, she heard her back pop. She let her arms drop and said to herself, "I need a hot bath."

"Tokio-chan" sing songed a familiar voice.

Turning towards the man Tokio said, "Okita-san, you're still here?"

Okita placed a hand over his heart and in mock despair said, "I am always working late. Saitou works this poor man to the bone."

Tokio laughed, "It's unnatural to see you without your other half." Then after a moment's pause she said, "I think you're actually less funny without him."

Okita blinked, his face emotionless, "That's just mean." His face broke into a smile when Tokio laughed. "I'll walk you to the train station."

"You don't have to do that." The train station wasn't too far from work and the walk combined with the night air always helped clear Tokio's mind of the day's work.

"It's alright. I'd like the company." Then in a whisper, "Saitou would never forgive me if something happened to you."

Tokio turned to look at him as they began walking out together, "Did you say something?"

Okita smiled at Tokio, "Nothing."

The two set off towards the train station, talking casually trying to leave the day behind them. It had been a long day, with a very unsatisfying end. And there was nothing they could do.

Okita stopped suddenly and turned his head slightly to the right, his ears gave a slight twitch.

"Okita-san?" Tokio stopped and looked at him. "Is something wrong?"

Tokio didn't have to wonder for long though, an ear-splitting scream caused both people to wince. It had been a woman. Tokio's head snapped towards the sound and despite her sense of self-preservation Tokio ran, she ran towards the scream.

"TOKIO!" Okita shouted and he too took off, quickly outrunning her. "Go back to the station! Call Saitou!" He shouted back at her.

"Okita! No!" Tokio tried to keep up with the assistant-detective but there was no way. Even as the frequent runner that she was. She placed her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. She had no idea how he could run so fast.

"H-h-elp . . ."

Tokio looked up, not too far up ahead a woman clung to the wall, she was favouring her left leg and covered in blood. Invigorated, Tokio ran up to the woman and grabbed ahold of her. The woman let herself fall against Tokio.

"I'll get you to the station and I'll take a look at you. Can you walk? I can't do this alone." Tokio said. The woman barely nodded.

As they started walking back towards the station, Tokio turned to look in the direction Okita had run off too. Just then she heard a wolf's howl. The woman shuddered and Tokio hoped Okita was ok.

- At the hospital -

Saitou ran through the halls ignoring the annoyed nurses. He slowed down as he saw a familiar woman pacing the waiting room. "Tokio!"

"Saitou-san!" Tokio let out a relieved sigh, "Some of her injuries were too deep for me to handle so I brought her here."

Saitou took in her appearance, Tokio's clothes were smeared in blood and her ever-present glasses were missing from the top of her head. He frowned; he didn't like the smell of blood on her. "It's fine. You did the right thing."

Tokio nodded and proceeded to give Saitou a detailed account of the evening. Saitou gave nothing away but Tokio had known him for long enough to notice the slight tensing of the jaw. He was worried.

Saitou placed his hand on Tokio's head, "Don't worry about that idiot. Okita can take care of himself. May I speak with our victim?"

Tokio gave Saitou a flat look from under his arm; the man couldn't even admit he was worried. "You can go speak to her."

Saitou nodded and knocked on the victim's door before entering. Tokio's shoulders slumped and she let herself fall into a chair. What a night.

Not long afterwards Saitou re-emerged from the room, deep in thought. Tokio watched him for a while before saying, "I brought you coffee."

Saitou took a seat beside her, taking the cup. "Thank you. You should go home."

"And leave you alone?" Tokio raised an eyebrow, silently challenging the detective. "You might do something stupid."

Saitou glared, "Don't be cute."

"I can't believe you said cute. It sounds so unnatural coming from you."

Saitou sighed. "If you don't plan on leaving then you can make yourself useful."

"I brought you coffee."

"Yes but you didn't bring me anything to eat."

"You just had dinner!"

Saitou ignored that and asked, "Did you get a chance to study her wounds? Are we dealing with the same were?"

"Of course. I did." Tokio took her camera out and began to show Saitou pictures, "I brought the camera from the lab just before we headed out here. But I want to compare them with our deceased before I come to any conclusion."

"Ah." Saitou stood. "Let's go then. "

Tokio blinked, watching him walk ahead, then grabbing her purse she ran after Saitou, "Wait for me!"

The ride back to the station was a silent and tense one. Tokio had never seen Saitou so out of sorts and it scared her. She cleared her throat, "What did she say?"

Saitou glanced at Tokio before focusing on the road again, smirking, "Thinking of joining the force?"

Tokio lifted her chin, "And what if I am? I think I can handle it."

"I don't doubt it." From Saitou it was high praise indeed and he was glad to see the stunned look on Tokio's face as he said. "I'd take you on as my partner."

Tokio snapped her mouth shut. She hadn't realized she had been staring with her mouth wide open. She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, "Please, you and Okita are quite the double act. There's no replacing him." Her eyes widened and she stilled, she really stuck her foot in it this time.

Saitou's hands tightened around the steering wheel and his face darkened.

"I . . . am sorry." Tokio said. "I am sure he's fine."

Saitou nodded stiffly. That fool, he bitterly thought to himself. "Our victim only ever saw the wolf, never the man. She realized someone was following her and took off towards the station, that by chance happened to be near, and our perp ran her down."

Tokio bit her lip, unsure what to say, finally deciding to keep it on business. "If it's the same Were, why would he break the routine?"

"It's hard to say."

Saitou said no more after that and Tokio too fell silent. She looked at her watch. Five hours since she found the victim, five since Okita took off. Please be okay, she thought to herself.

They finally arrived at the station. Saitou stepped out of the car, shutting the door with more force than necessary and made his way around to open Tokio's door. Tokio blinked, surprised by the act, she had been far too lost in her thoughts to even realize they had arrived. She stepped out of the car, a little self-conscious.

Saitou wouldn't look at her though; he was looking away, listening intently. Without even realizing it, a low growl escaped him, as he said, "Tokio. Go home."

Tokio looked up at him, "What?"

He finally looked at her, "Go home. You can analyze everything tomorrow."

Tokio didn't have a chance to respond because he suddenly took off running, after something she couldn't hear. She stood there for a few seconds, before taking off after him, shouting. "Saitou! Wait!"

Damn he's fast, Tokio thought. She could barely keep up as she followed him down narrow alleys, and back streets. She was so focused on keeping an eye on him that she lost all sense of direction and now she had no idea where they were or where they were going.

Saitou turned a corner and Tokio sped up; this was her chance to catch up! However, it was a dead end. She came to an abrupt halt and looked around, confused. Saitou was nowhere to be seen. Where had he gone off to?

Fifteen minutes later and Tokio was still wandering about, alone and completely lost. A wolf howled causing Tokio to take a step backwards, stepping on something with a definitive crunch. She picked up her foot, groaning at what she saw. "Great." She said full of sarcasm. "I found my glasses and I broke them. What terrible luck."

"Wait! This means I am not too far from the station, I am near where Okita took off . . ." Tokio stopped talking, partly because it was odd to be talking to herself and secondly because she suddenly heard the sound of paws hitting pavement. She felt it before she saw anything; a chill ran down her spine, and her hair stood on end.

Tokio didn't turn around or wait to see if there really was a Werewolf behind her, she ran. Tokio ran as fast as she could for the third time that night. Fear spurred her tired limbs on but she was no match for the fully grown Werewolf and she dove into an empty parking garage, tired, and worn out.

She inspected her surroundings, frantically looking for somewhere to hide. But it was too late, the Werewolf came into view snarling, eyes gleaming dangerously, and covered in blood. The Were bared his teeth and inched himself towards Tokio, enjoying himself. Tokio backed up until she hit the wall, silently cursing. Of course she would get stuck in a classic movie move.

"What do you want?!" Tokio shouted at the Were. "Where's Okita!?"

The Were howled and Tokio pressed herself against the wall. Damn it all. She glanced around wondering if she would be able to run around the wolf. Suddenly Tokio got her chance, the Were turned towards the exit, ears perking, growling dangerously. Tokio took her chance and sprinted as far away as she could.

Saitou entered the parking garage at a full sprint, "TOKIO!"

Damn that woman. He told her to go home but here she was. He wasn't angry at her, at least not for the sake of it. He was afraid about what could happen to her. His eyes finally locked onto the Were and that's when he noticed the blood. Blood that didn't smell human, it could only be from one person, one stupid werewolf, and suddenly a deep and profound anger overwhelmed him. Everything went black. He charged towards the werewolf with an inhuman yell.

Tokio saw Saitou charge towards the Werewolf and she ran towards Saitou, screaming, "HAJIME!" She had expected the Were to chase her down but instead the Were lunged at Saitou. Tokio screamed with everything she had. "HAJIME! HAJIME!"

But suddenly she stopped screaming, and she stopped running. She stood there in the parking garage with wide eyes and her mouth slightly agape. Something was happening that shouldn't be happening. Saitou was no longer Saitou, his body shifted and morphed. It was the most amazing thing Tokio had ever seen, drinking all of it in, too afraid to blink. There was no way to describe it but there he was, a werewolf, larger than the average wolf with dark fur and striking amber eyes. He really was a hairy beast, she thought. Those fools had been playing games with her.

Tokio was no longer able to shout out, all she could do was watch as Saitou the werewolf lunged at the other. The two Weres were growling, teeth snapping, grabbing onto whatever they could. Saitou's jaw locked onto the other Were's throat causing the Were to whimper out and flay about as much as he could. Saitou however was merciless and he tightened his grip.

"SAITOU!"

Tokio's head turned slowly up, towards the voice; it was Okita...

A/N: Fallen here! Yay, first chapter is out! I'll be putting out the second one in like an hour. Be patient for the third one. Review if ya liked it, drop a line and say what you found adorable or what irked you. Have fun with out Halloween special coz I sure as hell do.