Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin

Beta-Reader: Kokoronagomu :)

AN: New story…yus, Enjoy!

Story summary: AU. It was just a normal night…magic, murder and…a black cat.

Cat Tales

1

The red haired detective climbed out of his black car with tired sag of his shoulders. He left his brown leather coat behind and closed the door with a careless thud. Instantly he was greeted by a pair of nods from his acquaintances from the police department as he moved from the street into the front garden of the semi-rural house. It was mostly made of cement, but the whole left side was built from or covered by old and beautifully polished wood. At the top, the roof was thatched with palm fronds, mostly darkening with time, finishing the rustic look to perfection. It was calm setting but at the same time it gave him the creeps for it disrupted the normalcy of the neighboring houses. The house—to sum it all—was a mix of normalcy and oddity at the same time. To him, it represented a person with a double personality or dual life. Both made for an annoying riddle and definitely a harder job. After all, this is where it all happened.

"Himura," a police officer greeted as he came closer to the mentioned detective, "The name was Justine Harrows. She was found dead near the lake this afternoon. She had marks on her wrist and old knife scars on her hands."

Kenshin nodded and accepted the thin file and opened it promptly. Violet eyes glanced at the pictures and over the general information with sharp eyes. After a quick inspection he returned the papers to the gruff looking officer in front of him, "Any suspects?"

The police office shrugged and glanced at his surroundings nervously before once again directing himself to Himura, "Many." At the confused look on Kenshin's face the officer explained further, "Everyone said she was a witch."

"Magic, huh?" Himura asked and nodded his head in clear understanding. Not many were very understanding or tolerant about the topic, much less with someone directly or indirectly related with it.

"Do you believe such nonsense?" the officer asked with a scowl, "Those are merely myths." The way his eyes glared down at the red haired detective plainly said he believe them to be so.

Kenshin nodded his head once to evade any further probing, "And so many felt it necessary to kill a fictional witch. Perhaps not everyone thinks it's foolish." After that the diminutive redhead walked away leaving behind him a very confused and angry police officer.

Kenshin put on some latex gloves—as to not contaminate the evidence—and pushed open the door. He stopped for a moment and concentrated on his senses and waited.

He felt the magic wrapped inside the house as it circled him hungrily and yet at the same time comfortingly. Magic met magic when he pushed his latent powers to the surface of his skin and he tried to submerge himself in between the folds of every spell. If he tried enough and managed to discern one spell from another he could tell the lifestyle of the victim. If she had a wicked gleam to her, then it would be far more difficult to pin the crime to a single suspect since they tended to have far too many enemies. If she— on the other hand—had a purer soul and her magic was innocent, her very own soul would help him find the culprit. It was the way of life, and magic.

To his utter surprise, every time he tried to reach for a spell or any magic it would simply vanish. It was as if the woman had made sure no one could track her or her doings. He felt the inner need to continue and find something he could use to get a grip on her, but logic stated otherwise. He stopped meddling with the spells and gave a step back and was out of the house a moment later. He made a one-eighty and was met by a few questioning glances but he ignored them all. He un-pocketed his mobile and dialed number two. He moved away from the property in search of some privacy. After two rings, the line was picked up.

"What?" a man's voice boomed into his eardrums painfully.

"There is a counter spell," Kenshin informed evenly, "It doesn't let me track her magic."

"Hmm," grumbled the voice at the other side of the line. After a few heartbeats the voice finally began again, "I'll send a spell. It will nullify all spells inside the house but it will leave something traceable at least. Be sure to pick it up in five." After that the line went dead.

Kenshin went to the car and pressed his palms on the hood and waited for a few moments until he collected his breath. He could feel the pressure of the magic surrounding the house tugging at his consciousness. It was both a gift and a curse to have the affinity of magic he had. He was good, and that was an understatement, he was the best. But sometimes, he wished he wasn't. It came with a responsibility, a burden that was starting to make him crumble. Right now, he felt he needed to sleep a week in order to rest fully. Sadly in his line of work, he should be grateful if he got six hours.

The familiar tugging of his Master's magic startled him and a smirk found its way on lips. He was on time, as always. Kenshin stretched his sore muscles and returned to the victim's house with a pleased smile. He had never been one to hold his curiosity at bay, and he was just about to discover what 'his friend' Justine wanted to keep in the shadows.

He ignored the various stares he was receiving and once again pushed the door open. He took a deep breath and once again shifted through his awareness and tuned his senses to the murdered witch's house.

After centering himself he dug into the collective that he, his Master and their associates shared and fished for the right spell. It came to him as he summoned; Hiko had indeed placed it there and he invoked it with a simple mental enchantment. The spell burst in a pale yellow and darted all around his consciousness with a fierce velocity. When he felt it tugging against his mental barrier he let it go. The sparks exploded and then imploded inside the house touching absolutely everything. He watched in awe as spell after spell began to fade all around him. Slowly the house seemed to die all around until only the few real and spell-less items and furniture remained. Now the house looked somber and lonely, the empty remains of what had once been someone's home.

Kenshin studied the surroundings in detail. There was nothing of much worth, this meant the woman depended on her magic fully in her daily life. It was strange though, a woman who reeked of so much magic should have been known to him and his Master. How did she manage to escape their radar? How was she here and not be accounted for in the system?

A sudden movement at the side made him tense and he instinctively assumed an offensive stance but he was quick to relax when he spotted a long limbed black cat jumping from the wooden table to the floor just in front of him. He lowered his eyes to the cat and instead of the green/yellow eyes he expected to find, his own violet orbs locked with navy blue ones. He tilted his head to the side but was amazed when the small feline didn't even twitch a muscle, instead kept its cool stare on him, "What are you looking at?" he asked in a friendly tone but refrain from touching the cat. Sometimes they were as volatile as they came and he didn't want to risk the scratch and the anger that came with it unnecessarily.

The cat merely kept looking at him, but relaxed enough as to sit. This gave the detective enough confidence as to reach out to it. Shockingly the animal didn't cower at his hand, or the magic circling around it, and he was able to stroke the animal's short fur. It was soft and warm and a placid smile reached his eyes, "You were Justine's pet, weren't you?" The redhead was startled when the animal turned hard eyes in his direction and he stopped petting the cat.

A frown marred his face and he blinked his eyes and immediately a golden haze appeared on his vision. He studied the animal carefully for a moment before he dropped his second gaze and once again looked at the cat, "You were her familiar. It explains why her magic wasn't as traceable. You got a lot of her aura on you, it must be uncomfortable."

Kenshin left the cat and once again stood up. He eyed the house one last time before glancing down at the feline again, "You know what, I'm taking you home with me." He didn't know why he was directly speaking to a feline who couldn't understand him, but it served to soothe him somehow.

He watched as the cat stood again and then scratched behind its ear making a tinkling sound resound all around the house. His violet eyes blinked confusedly but he couldn't see a collar around the feline's neck. He grabbed the cat—emboldened by the small black animal's relaxed attitude towards him—and checked it for a collar and found none. The cat's navy eyes fixed on him, but there was no fear or violence from it. He inspected it further and when he was about to set it down he found a small earing with two bells on it. He placed the cat against his chest and moved his now free hand to the earring. He hit the bells and the familiar sound once again exploded but the cat didn't seem to mind it one bit.

Confused but too tired Kenshin only shrugged his shoulders, "Well, let's get home…cat. We will talk about your fate tomorrow." The animal glanced up at him and he felt self-conscious about the cat's interest in him. It could very well be his magic which attracted the small feline's attention but it was still disconcerting. Then another question came to his mind, "I hope you don't mind," he started and raised the cat past his head, "but I want to check what gender my new housemate is going to be."

The black cat hissed menacingly and Kenshin put it back against his chest without checking, "Yep, a female, now I have no doubts. Sorry about that."

To be continued…

AN: This was posted on April 23, at the RK_Challenge Community. Please, review!