Bleed

Chapter 8


Friday afternoon, they were summoned to the penthouse. Hiko was only available for a limited time, therefore everything sped in the blink of an eye. He gave a brief summary of a few more people involved, explained their connection to the case and how they were to deal with them. One of the men "introduced" however, was no stranger to the three girls.

Yukishiro Enishi, sole heir to Yukishiro Tetsuya, a top businessman who specialized on dealings with the Chinese, was working under Shishio Makoto. He was the middle man between the Chinese and Shishio, when transactions on firearms and a little bit of drugs were made. Hiko, upon seeing Kaoru's reaction to the news, interrogated her in front of everyone about her relationship with the man. And here, everything was revealed.

"Do you know him?" Hiko asked.

Slowly, Kaoru nodded.

"He was my ex," Kaoru replied softly.

The men regarded her quite critically.

"How long had you been together?"

"Around two years... We broke up a week after his dad died..."

"Did you know about this?"

Kaoru shook her head.

"All I knew was that he was the sole heir to his father's businesses, since his sister and mother had died a few years before. After we broke up, we broke all connections with one another. He didn't tell me when he moved, nor did I tell him when I switched phone numbers..."

"Saitou knew about this?" Hiko further asked.

Kaoru nodded.

"He even supported me," Kaoru answered, drawing surprised looks on Hiko & Sano's end. "But after the break up, he warned me not to go looking for him anymore, saying I'd regret it. I followed his advice."

"You saw him at the party didn't you?"

Kaoru nodded.

"And you saw each other the day you didn't attend training."

Kaoru nodded again.

"What did you talk about?"

"I just asked him how he was doing, and what was he doing at the party... All he gave me were vague answers, and when he asked me questions I answered him vaguely too. The only thing I was able to learn from him was that he was very secretive on his current situation... It was as if he didn't want anyone to know about what he was doing."

"I see..."

Time was up, and Hiko's secretary called in, reminding him that he would be late for a meeting at the station. With that Hiko left the youngsters, and ordered his secretary to hand the sheets of paper he had prepared for them. Okon walked in, handing each partner differently colored sheets of paper, describing their mission for the next night. Sano, Megumi, Aoshi and Misao were assigned to investigate Enishi further, while Kenshin and Kaoru were given a separate job: to visit Kamatari in his executive tower half an hour's drive from the penthouse and gather as much files as they could that the police would use as evidence.

They hung out a bit longer at the top floor, talking about their assignments.

Kaoru was busy typing away at the computer when Megumi approached her, tapping her shoulder.

"Kaoru-chan, there's this computer I've been trying to get into a long time ago, but the firewall's too strong," Megumi said, handing her a diskette. "Would you?"

Kaoru nodded and inserted the floppy in the drive. And soon, she was at work with Megumi dictating what she would want her to do.

"Piece of cake Megumi," Kaoru mumbled with a sly grin, her fingers literally flying over the keyboard. Megumi smiled in satisfaction, seeing the number of files her friend was able to copy. Then with a press of the enter key, Kaoru had over 20 text documents copied into the floppy. Megumi then retrieved the floppy and thanked her friend, which was when Kenshin approached her.

"Ready for tomorrow?" Kenshin asked.

Kaoru whirled around to face him and nodded with a grin.

"Megumi's was enough practice," she giggled, making Kenshin smile. "Besides, I didn't take a side course of Computer Science for nothing."

Kenshin chuckled.

"Alright then," he said. "I guess that's enough practice for today. You wanna go home?"

Kaoru nodded, shutting down the PC before she stood up. The others were still talking about their homework, as Misao had put it, so Kenshin and Kaoru just left them to their own devices. Down the elevator, inside the car, and before Kaoru entered her house, they talked about and reviewed their strategies. They were, after all, going to penetrate a high security building, and they needed to be "mingle" and not be seen.

The two walked inside a thirty-storey building wearing corporate attire, both of them looking more mature than they were. Fake IDs courtesy of Sano were on clipped on their clothes, and they practically breezed through security. It was getting late in the night, and only a few people were still working in their offices. The lower floors were very much empty, and only the few top floors were lighted. Kenshin and Kaoru entered the elevator and pushed for the twenty-ninth floor.

Kaoru looked around. There, at a corner of the elevator was a tiny security camera. It would've been almost invisible to regular office personnel, but to trained people like them, they knew practically how every security camera developed in the world looked like. With a nod from Kaoru, Kenshin dug into his pocket and slightly drew out a thin tube. He pushed a tiny button on top, and the whole elevator was filled with white smoke.

Ding. The doors parted revealing a very dimly lit hall. The smoke from the elevator covered about a meter of the elevator's radius, giving its two passengers the chance to slip away unnoticed by any invisible eyes. A pile of clothes was left on the floor, along with several pieces of fake jewelry. They were both now dressed in their "uniform", body-hugging, leather one-piece suits they had on under their corporal attires. Kenshin was the more heavily armed of the two of them, carrying two pistols and a stack of bullets, carefully placed in special pockets of his suit. Kaoru meanwhile was carrying a rectangular bag that contained the portable PC she was going to use for tonight's assignment.

Kenshin led her towards a room which she entered, setting to work right away. The laptop was already on, and with her nimble fingers hooked it to the wires that were connected to the home computer. Her fingers flying over the keyboard, she was soon transferring 20% of the files to her computer. Kenshin stood by the glass doors, lurking in the shadows just in case anyone would try to interfere.

Hacking had never been Misao's specialty. She inwardly cursed Hiko for having to separate Kenshin and Kaoru from their own mission that night. She was inside a dark room with Megumi, who was quickly scanning through folders of written documents for anything that could be used as evidence against Yukishiro Enishi or even Shishio Makoto. The men were outside fighting with a couple of thugs, and Sano was trying to force some information out of one of the security guards. Things were so far running smoothly, when suddenly, the lights went off.

"Great," Megumi mumbled, slamming one of the cabinet doors shut. "Security chooses this time to turn off the electricity." With a flick of her hand on her thigh she extracted her phone and proceeded to dial a number.

From a few feet across her, Misao was muttering a multitude of curses since her connection to the home computer had been cut off. She was oblivious to the splinters scattering on the floor some meters from her when Aoshi sent a thug flying into the glass window of the office.

"10% to go," Kaoru breathed, watching as more and more megabytes worth of files were being transferred to her hard disk. She watched eagerly as the percentage began to lower, from 10 to 8 and decreasing. 4%... 2%... five more seconds left. The status bar closed, meaning the file transfer was done. Suddenly someone pulled the wire connecting her laptop to the home computer. She looked up. She was absolutely sure that this man was not her partner, from the way he smiled at her from ear to ear.

"You couldn't have chosen a better time," Kaoru said sarcastically. "I'm done."

The man blinked in surprise for a moment, and his grin quickly morphed into one of pure malice and anger. Kaoru looked around. Kenshin was nowhere inside the room with her. Her heart began pounding faster when she heard the sounds of battle from the outside. She caught a flash of red and some blood spraying onto the glass panels of the door.

Kenshin...

"It doesn't matter," the man replied, stepping closer towards her. Kaoru quickly slammed her PC close and held it under her arm, taking retreating steps away from the man. "Oh no missy, you're not going anywhere."

His voice was not pleasing to her ears, menacing in every word he spoke. She shuddered inwardly.

"You can't stop me," Kaoru spoke, her voice getting lower.

The man laughed mockingly.

"We'll see about that," he told her, quickly drawing a gun from his side. But Kaoru was quicker, for in a split second she had burst out of the room her laptop under her arm. She ran as fast as she could away from him, spotting a stair case in her plight. She ran up and out the door where the stairs ended, right away regretting her decision once the door was opened. It was a dead end. She was standing on the rooftop, and apparently from the giant H painted on the floor, it was a helicopter landing.

She heard footsteps cantering up the metal staircase. Using the door for leverage, she climbed on the stone roof, ready to pounce on her pursuer once he opened the door. She set down the laptop as silently as she could and drew her pistol. With her free hand she tapped her earlobe, hoping that Kenshin would hear her signals in whatever he was doing.

Suddenly the door opened and Kaoru thrust her pistol at the back of the man's head. Metal hit flesh and in an instant, the man was on the floor, unconscious. Kaoru peered down and bit her lip. From his attire, he was not the man who pulled the cables at the office in the lower floor. She began to wonder where he was.

She needn't though. It wasn't necessary. She heard a gun click from behind her, and warily, turned around. There he was, pointing a long slender gun right at her, perfectly aimed at her head. Kaoru's heart began to beat faster.

Two floors down however, Kenshin had heard the beeping sounds coming from his earpiece. It was in Morse code, from Kaoru, and she was telling him to come to the rooftop as soon as possible. With a bang Kenshin finished off the last of his attackers, and ran towards the staircase, sweat pouring down the sides of his face. He was silently praying to the gods that his partner was alright.

He spotted the door at the end of the staircase slightly parted. As noiselessly as he could he crept towards the door, his earpiece letting him hear everything that was happening to his partner. He heard Kaoru's startled gasp when the man introduced himself as Kamatari, Shishio's very own son. His insides churned with anger upon hearing the other man threaten Kaoru.

"Like I said, you're not going anywhere," Kamatari said, keeping the gun pointed right at her. "You shouldn't have run away you know. I would've ended your life right then and there at the office. You know too much."

Kaoru merely stared back at him, the pistol in her hand firmly in place.

"Put down the gun," Kamatari ordered.

She didn't budge.

"I said put down the gun," he repeated, getting ready to pull the trigger.

Kaoru's hold loosened, but Kamatari wasn't satisfied with it. He pulled the trigger and shot the gun from Kaoru's hand. Kenshin however didn't see him just shoot Kaoru's hand. He was ready to burst out of the door and shoot him down dead upon hearing the gunshot when Kaoru's sharp gasp registered through his earpiece. His heart calmed down a bit. She was still alive. At this point he drew his cellular from his pocket and dialed a number.

"That's what you get for not being obedient," Kamatari grinned. "Didn't you mother ever teach you about respecting people?"

"My mother did, but I believe my ears were clogged when she told me about it," Kaoru replied sharply, crossing her arms haughtily. This angered Kamatari more.

"Get down there you bitch or I'll shoot your head off," he ordered threateningly. When Kaoru didn't move an inch, he practically yelled, "Get down!"

At this Kaoru obeyed and carefully eased herself onto the flat ground. She stood there, a few feet from Kamatari who had a gun pointed right at her. She was breathing heavily. From behind the door, Kenshin could clearly see everything that was happening outside. He tried to calm himself, saying that it was not yet time to go out for fear of putting Kaoru in more danger than she already was in.

"Where's your petty partner who's supposed to be with you?" Kamatari asked in a menacing voice, inching slowly towards her. Kaoru began to retreat backward, aware that he was slowly pushing her towards the edge of the building. She didn't answer him. She merely kept her mouth clamped shut to anger him more.

"I asked you a question. ANSWER ME!" he yelled at her, making her flinch. "Or I'll SHOOT YOUR HEAD OFF!"

"He's somewhere in this building, I don't know," Kaoru replied, taking two steps backward. Kamatari took two steps forward.

"Really now," he breathed, his eyes glaring at her. He shot a glance to the area behind her, and he grinned wickedly. Kaoru looked back and cursed. She was almost close to the edge of the roof. If she didn't do anything soon, she would fall off. But what could she do without her gun? She smiled inwardly. Sano would disown her as a friend if she said she didn't learn anything from him.

Without warning Kamatari rushed up at her and tried to hit her on the head. Kaoru was quick enough to dodge the blow but his gun landed painfully on her shoulder, almost breaking it. She clutched her shoulder in pain, biting her lip from crying out loud. She took a step backward and found her heel in contact with what seemed to be the edge. She turned back. Indeed. One false step and she would fall to her doom. Seeing her in distress Kenshin took the opportunity. As quiet as the air itself he stepped out the door, and was slowly heading towards Kamatari.

Kamatari took the opportunity to kick Kaoru in the stomach and she fell forward with a lurch. He caught her, however, and snaked his right hand around her throat, choking her. Kaoru gasped, trying her best to breathe. His grip tightened on her as he lifted her from the ground her feet dangling helplessly. Kaoru tried her best to remove his grip from her, but his hands were just too strong, and she was in desperate need of air. Her vision was fast clouding, and she could faintly see Kenshin behind Kamatari.

She was thrust backward until there was nothing but air below her. Kamatari was standing right on the edge of the building, while she was dangling helplessly with the sidewalk below her. She struggled to break free of his grip as he began to whisper evilly in her ear.

"You know too much," he said, smiling wickedly. "You need to be eliminated. You... and your partner... and your friends... each and every one of them..."

Mou, can't he just get on with it?! Kaoru thought, struggling.

"Pity... You're pretty... I would've loved to see you live, however, the circumstances..." His grip began to loosen, and Kaoru's heart began to beat faster. Just as he was about to let her fall, there was a loud bang, and Kamatari let her go. Kaoru thought she would fall to her death at that instant, when strong warm hands held her own limp ones, pulling her up. She looked up at her savior. His red hair was barely a blur in her vision.

She was finally hauled to safety, and instantly Kaoru felt strong arms wrap around her. Kenshin was breathing raggedly holding her tight as if he was afraid of letting her go. Air began to flow freely through her lungs and she was thankful for that... Also, thankful for the warmth that was around her sending the chills away. She closed her eyes smiling a bit, regaining her strength. She heard Kenshin's husky voice from her neck.

"Gods I thought I lost you there Kaoru," he breathed. "If I had been a second too late..."

"Daijobu," Kaoru answered softly, her lids still heavy. "Daijobu... I'm safe now..."

"I shouldn't have left you there Kaoru," he said to himself. "I shouldn't have..."

Kaoru felt something wet fall gently on her neck. Surprised, she looked up. Did he...

"Kenshin look out!" she screamed, suddenly making him turn around. Kamatari was awake and a pistol was pointed at him, ready to blow. But before he could pull the trigger a loud bang from behind them made him drop the weapon, and he fell back to the floor. Kenshin looked around and spotted Aoshi tucking a gun back into his pocket with Misao running towards them.

"Kaoru-chan!" she cried, rushing to her best friend. "What happened?"

"Misao-chan? What are you doing here?" Kaoru asked quite weakly. "I thought you were..."

"Kenshin gave me a call. We left Sano and Megumi as soon as we could and came here right away," Aoshi answered her, walking up to Kamatari. He gave the man a hard kick, making sure he was unconscious.

"Did you--"

"He isn't dead," Aoshi said. "He's just in pretty bad shape. Come on. We'd better leave. The car's right downstairs."

Kenshin nodded, scooping Kaoru in his arms and carrying her towards the door. She barely had time to protest for Kenshin silenced her with his you-can't-argue look. Misao picked up the laptop and followed behind her two friends, a small smile on her face. Kaoru meanwhile had her face buried in Kenshin's chest as she tried to hide the blush creeping on her face. But she was tired and weary, and soon, sleep had claimed her.


AN: So sorry for not having updated in a long time. I'm going to finish this story as quick as I can, since there are pending stories of mine that have to be finished. And "A Picture of Summer" is in need of attention... sigh... Oh brain, (whacks her head on the table) why won't you work?! ^_^ Thank you for all the nice reviews, and at this point I'd like to advertise my other stories. ^_^ Check 'em out if you like.

So thanks a bunch for reading this chapter. Please review!