Author's note: Hello, dear readers! *Ducks flying weapons* I know that this chapter is very, very, very late, but I have numerous excuses, most important of which is that I had a severe case of writer's block. I would like to apologise to all of you who have waited patiently and I'd like to thank all of you who have sent me messages of enquiry and encouragement. I would also like to thank my fabulous beta thealchemist'sdaughter for looking this over in one afternoon with me so that I could post it as soon as possible. Hope you all enjoy and don't forget to drop me a review!
Chapter Nine
She had failed again. Perhaps Aoshi-sama was right and she wasn't cut out to be by his side.
Misao trudged through the streets, ignoring the dirty looks from the other harried pedestrians who did not appreciate her sluggish pace. She should return to Kaoru's prison and try to get her out no matter the cost, but right now she needed to sulk and maybe beat up some hapless idiot who thought they could take her on. She was about to get her wish.
She was roughly shoved to the side, only managing to stay upright because of her quick reflexes. She cursed violently as her ninja senses tingled, informing her of the hand slipping into her pocket while she fell. She caught a glimpse of black hair and then he was gone at surprising speed.
She followed, angry with the boy for mugging her and with herself for being so distracted that she had let him do it. It wasn't that she had a load of cash that she needed to save, in fact she had so little it wasn't really worth the bother of chasing the brat, but that purse had been a gift from Aoshi-sama on her sixth birthday, a time before he had thought her old enough to start buying her weapons like the kunai in the pouch on her waist. She cherished it and there was no way she was going to let some stupid street kid steal it from her.
The kid was fast though, dodging through the crowds like water sliding around rock. Shame for him that Misao was faster and better trained. Any normal person wouldn't have stood a chance of catching him. The pursuit reached the subway platform before Misao finally managed to tackle the boy to the ground. There was a scuffle, during which she received an elbow to the face and the boy got several nasty bruises, but in the end Misao's superiour education in the art of hand to hand combat meant she came out the victor. She ignored the people on the platform, staring in shock as she pinned the boy to the ground, a knee resting a little more heavily than necessary on his spine and one of his arms pulled up painfully high behind his back.
'Hand over the purse, brat,' she growled in a voice that few ever heard and the Oniwabanshu knew meant that she was this close to losing it.
'What purse, you crazy bitch? I don't have a damn purse, I'm a guy.'
There was violent cursing as his arm was wrenched a little higher. Any further and it would be wrenched out of the shoulder socket.
'All right, all right, I'll give you the damn purse just let go of my arm,' he yelped.
His voice was choked with the pain, but he struggled vainly anyway despite the fact that it would hurt a lot less if he just lay still.
She let go, but didn't let up the pressure on his back. She wasn't stupid, the street brat would make a break for it if she gave him half the chance. He muttered darkly under his breath, still thrashing against her weight, but she had a firm position and it was futile.
Finally, he lowered the arm that wasn't throbbing at that moment to his pocket and pulled out her black Chinese silk purse covered in finely embroidered sakura blossoms. She snatched it immediately, holding it to her carefully as though she had just discovered the Holy Grail and was afraid it might crumble in her hands. She came to herself again only when there was a grunt from beneath her, the boy inflicting more pain on himself by trying to jostle her off his back. He only succeeded in causing her knee to dig sharply into his spine.
'Get off, you stupid bitch,' he snarled viciously and she retaliated by resting her full weight against him as she stood.
He was on his feet as soon as her weight was lifted away, but instead of dashing for the nearest exit as she had expected him to, he simply stood his ground, fists balled at his sides and his face almost purple with fury.
She felt something click inside her mind. She recognised this boy, but where from? She just couldn't put her finger on it.
'Are you trying to paralyse me, Busu? You could have broken my spine by resting your elephant sized body on it,' he yelled angrily and Misao couldn't help but look down to check if she had suddenly put on a large amount of weight in the last ten minutes.
She was not what you would call elephantine. In fact she lamented her skinniness everyday, wondering whether the reason why her Aoshi-sama wasn't interested was because he thought she looked like a child. She did not have curves and she had given up all hope of possessing them after one night when she'd tried fattening up by eating a ton of ice cream. She'd been sick for days.
'You little…,' she began, but trailed off as the missing puzzle piece fell into place. Suddenly she knew who this boy was. The memory of one of her many late night conversations with Kaoru came back to her and her breath caught.
'Kami, who would have thought I'd miss the brat so much? I mean at this stage I would probably even let him call me Busu without beating him to a pulp with my bokken.'
Kaoru had shown her a picture of a scowling young man standing in the middle of a dojo floor. He had become much like a little brother to her and Misao had joked that they had obviously spent way too much time together since, from the picture, it looked like he had picked up her temper.
The boy had begun to stomp away by the time she had come out of her reverie and she reprimanded herself sternly. Ninjas were supposed to stay on their guard at all times. What if an enemy had attacked? She would have been dead before she had even realised there was a threat.
'Yahiko!'
He turned back and she looked into surprised brown eyes.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000
Kaoru couldn't help it, even though she had the most adorable bundle of dark red fluff in her lap, trying very hard to distract her, she couldn't help but long for its namesake. He had been in his office since he had given her the present and she was shocked to find that, although it had only been a couple of hours, she yearned for his company.
Her mind flashed back involuntarily to that morning and she felt a warm sensation pervade her entire body. This feeling of contentment had been missing for a long time now and she reveled in it, enjoying the sense of peace.
The sunlight filtering in through the windows was what woke her. She groaned grouchily, ducking further away from it and into the warm hollow her head rested in. It was too late though, her senses were awake. She could smell the scent of ginger and pine. It was reassuring, familiar, and she sighed softly.
She sat up a little and found that she had been resting comfortably against Battousai's chest, her nose nuzzled into his neck just under his chin. Her stomach did a summersault and tightened deliciously. He was still fully dressed, his shirt creased and opened at the first few buttons and his ponytail loosened so that his hair was ruffled and wild. He looked at peace, but so unintentionally seductive that she felt her mouth go dry. She licked her lips, shifting a little to distract herself from the need to touch his face, run her hands through that hair.
She felt something tighten around her waist and squeaked, looking down to find his arm wrapped possessively round her, fingers slipped just under her top to rest against her hip. She could feel the heat radiating from that tiny contact with her skin and it sent a shiver straight through her body. She ached to feel those calloused hands run over her.
Giving herself a mental slap, she banished those bad thoughts. Damn, she needed to escape this sweet torture before it completely robbed her of her rationality and she did something stupid.
She began to slip from the bed, regretfully moving his arm from around her as she did so, and suddenly she found herself on her back, a leanly muscled red head looking down at her with intense amber eyes. She gasped for breath and they trailed down over her body, lingering on her breasts before continuing their journey. She felt as though his gaze were tracing a line of fire everywhere it touched and her breath became even more laboured.
'Koneko, do you know how tempting you look right now?' Battousai purred, his eyes finding hers once more.
From the look of almost fierce lust in them, she could probably guess.
'Um…' was the best she could manage, however, as one of his hands followed the path his eyes had taken, feathering over her as though he were trying to rememorise her every curve.
She bit back a moan of frustration, the not quite touches driving her insane.
"Quit teasing, Kenshin," she warned darkly, a counterpoint to the almost pleading look in her eyes.
A cocky smirk began to play at Battousai's lips, making him look devilishly seductive.
'Would you like me to touch you, Koneko?' He breathed in her ear and she couldn't hold back the quiet moan that slipped from her lips as he nibbled on it.
The sound seemed to please him since he dropped to her neck and kissed it gently.
A small part of her mind was telling her that this was moving way too fast, that she needed time to think about it somewhere far from the distraction that this handsome, sinfully tempting man embodied. It was overwhelmed, however, by the part that was whispering how good it felt to be with him again, to have him touch her so tenderly. Yet, even that voice was drowned out by the wash of sensations as his lips continued a path from her throat to her jaw, following its line until he was hovering just above her lips. She held her breath, her eyes fluttering closed in anticipation.
Then, her stomach growled long and loud, informing the world of its plight. She wished in that moment that the bed would just turn into a black hole and swallow her up. A warm chuckle made her open her eyes to look into amused amber ones. The only sign of his disappointment was a slight downward turn to his mouth which disappeared as quickly as it came.
'I think it is time you ate, Koneko,' Battousai said, smiling sunnily down at her.
She was shocked at how quickly his attitude had taken a one eighty turn from the darkly tempting man of just a moment ago. It was almost as if he had never been driving her crazy with his kisses as he stood and held out his hand to her. She scowled, feeling cheated, but took it all the same since he would undoubtedly not take no for an answer.
He pulled her up easily, a little too easily for his taste or so the frown seemed to indicate. Unfortunately, the movement was too fast for her to be able to untangle herself from the bedclothes in time and she caught her legs, tripping over her own feet and slamming straight into his chest, sending them both to the floor before either of them was able to rebalance.
She clenched her eyes shut, only opening them when she heard him laugh. She blushed like an embarrassed schoolgirl when she found herself pressed against every line of his body, her breasts flattened against his chest and her hands planted on either side of his head.
'Patience, Koneko.'
She wasn't sure if he was speaking to her or to himself. His voice was rough and gravely as though he were holding himself back by his last threads of self control and the dark look of lust that flickered through his eyes brought hope that his seduction was not yet over. The answering flutter in her belly it caused told her she was looking forward very much to its return.
Kaoru was drawn from her pleasant reverie by a soft mewing, kitten Kenshin butting her hand irritably, protesting her sudden lack of attention. Smiling gently, she rubbed under the kitten's chin and couldn't help but laugh as Kenshin purred fit to burst and arched her head back so far she was almost bent double
'Aren't you just the cutest thing,' Kaoru cooed affectionately, moving to rub behind the tiny animal's ears.
She was rewarded with an even louder purr and a very happy kitten nuzzling her hand.
Just about to explore what other places her new pet liked to be scratched, an unknown force drew her gaze up and towards the door. Amused amber eyes immediately snared her.
Her stomach did an odd jump, butterflies bursting into spontaneous flight. He looked delicious as usual, hair pulled back in a sleek high ponytail and his bangs falling around his eyes. It shone darkly red in the light of the library and she realised that he must have gone up for a shower sometime after she had left for the library.
She licked her suddenly dry lips as he pushed off the doorjamb he'd been leaning against and walked towards her, not a word of greeting passing his lips. He was wearing a pair of form fitting jeans and a dark red shirt she distinctly remembered wearing herself on several occasions over the past month. The memory of having left it abandoned at the bottom of his wardrobe was quite vivid, but these thoughts were quickly pushed from her mind as the clean masculine scent that was uniquely Battousai reached her nose and she inhaled appreciatively. The aroma of pine and ginger was the one thing that had still remained constant after the switch from her sweet Kenshin to the darker Battousai and the familiarity felt safe. She realised suddenly that she'd closed her eyes in pleasure and blushed violently as she opened them to find amused amber staring back at her from mere inches away.
'What are you thinking, Koneko?'
His voice was warm, something like tenderness lacing it.
Her blush deepened and she stuttered something incoherent that made his slightly cocky grin widen. He knew very well the effect he was having on her and he was enjoying every minute of it. She would have begun to get angry out of sheer embarrassment if right then some internal switch hadn't seemed to flick in his head, changing him from playful to serious in half a second. She was beginning to wonder whether he wasn't just a little bit bi-polar.
She blinked and he was sitting beside her in a movement so fast she hadn't even managed to focus on it. How the hell did he do that? It was almost like Hannya's appearing and disappearing acts in her safe room so long ago. She was dragged from these musings by the one sentence she did not want or think she would hear at least for a short while.
'Kaoru, I have to leave for a mission.'
She could feel her face falling and tried hard to stop and not show how that sudden statement upset her, but she knew by the agonised look in his eyes that she had failed miserably.
'Another mission already?' She whispered, her heart chilling.
When had his presence become so essential to her happiness again? She looked away, using her bangs as a shield much the same way he often did.
'No, that wasn't… Sano will be staying with you this time, Koneko, and you'll have your kitten.'
He stroked the tiny animal down to the tip of its tail as it stretched as long as its body would allow, purring like a well kept car. Kaoru couldn't help but smile at its antics.
'Do you know how long it will take?' She asked, finally looking up at him.
He smiled weakly, gently pushing her hair out of her eyes with his hand. She could see in his eyes how conflicted her reaction made him, the joy that she seemed to want him with her and the pain at having to disappoint that wish.
'It shouldn't take long. Maybe a few days.'
She nodded and forced a smile of her own. The hand pushing her bangs out of her eyes moved to cup her cheek. Her breath caught and time seemed to slow around them. She would have laughed at the cheesy romance movie aspect of it all if it wasn't for the fact that it would have ruined the moment she had been craving since Battousai had come so close to kissing her that morning. No, that wasn't strictly true, she realised, as she felt herself drawn to his almost burning touch, she had longed for this contact since the first time he had come back into her life, possessive, dark but still so utterly Kenshin.
'Kenshin, the car's…here,' Sano trailed off, looking torn between embarrassment at having walked in on them and amusement at what he had walked in on.
Kaoru could have screamed in frustration and judging by the now ever changing golden shades of Battousai's eyes, she was pretty sure his mood was no better. He sighed heavily, his breath fanning across her lips. She licked them instinctively and his eyes followed the movement hungrily.
'You are trying to kill me, Koneko, and you're succeeding admirably,' he whispered huskily.
For a moment she felt a sense of elation, the urge to punch the air in triumph very strong. He was, apparently, not the only one who could have an embarrassing effect on the other. Closing his eyes, Battousai breathed deeply and when he opened them they were clear burnished amber again. She felt a pang of disappointment, but forced it away.
'Stay inside and don't do anything stupid.'
The first part was directed at her, his eyes conveying clearly both his iron command and an underlying worry that allowed her to overlook the fact that he was ordering her around. The second part was for Sano, the decree given with a warning look that made him grin sheepishly. He managed to maintain his nonchalance, however.
'Me? Stupid? Those words just don't fit together in the same sentence.'
He faked a look of outraged indignation but broke into a wide smile when Battousai snorted.
'Don't worry, man, everything will be fine here. Leave everything up to me and you just go do what you gotta do, all right?'
Battousai nodded stiffly, giving another look over his shoulder at Kaoru, sitting with her kitten in her lap. She looked so utterly tempting, yet so fragile. He knew very well that the vulnerability was only a surface impression and that she could take care of herself in any normal situation, but what they were up against wasn't normal in any sense of the word. If it had been the case of some stupid mugger he'd have laughed at the thought of fearing for his Koneko, but instead now his stomach twisted and knotted with anxiety and he wanted nothing more than to pin her to his side and never let her leave his sight.
He growled under his breath and turned to Sano, grabbing him by the collar of his white jacket and dragging him from the room. The second they were outside the door, he shoved Sano against the wall and snarled at him.
'If anything happens to her while I'm gone, Sanosuke, Megumi won't be able to find enough pieces to make a coffin worth the effort, understand?'
Sano looked at him seriously, nodding, smart enough to know that making a joke out of this now would most likely result in his losing vital body parts. Battousai turned on his heel and left without another word, the front door slamming behind him.
Ignoring the odd stares the guards were giving him, Battousai rested his back against the door and sighed heavily. In all his days as an assassin, he had never regretted his job more than right at that moment, having to leave was the hardest thing he had ever done.
He inhaled deeply, allowing the jasmine scent that infused his shirt to soothe his senses. He had found it at the bottom of his wardrobe, a place he would never have allowed it to stay himself. Kaoru had apparently taken a liking to it over the time he had been away, so much so that her sweet scent, one that had become so irrevocably connected with peace and happiness, had now permeated the fabric.
He had immediately put it on, ignoring the wrinkles he normally would not have been able to stand. At least in that way he could have something with him of hers while he traveled, saving him from going completely insane. He'd change into something more suitable for his work once he arrived at headquarters.
Opening the eyes he had not realised he'd closed, he pushed away from the door and made his way to the non-descript black car parked in the drive. It shone in the bright sunlight, but the beauty of the day was lost on him as he got in and peeled out of the driveway. He could only hope his target wouldn't act too difficult about his inevitable death.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000
Kitten Kenshin jumped, startled, as the sound of the front door slamming echoed through the quiet house. Kaoru rested a soothing hand on her back, running her fingers through her soft fur. The contact was as much to comfort her as the kitten. The noise had made her chest constrict and the familiar sense of fear well up inside her. It was ridiculous that she felt so alone and vulnerable knowing that he was gone. She could take care of herself, damn it. But even as she thought this, she knew deep down that where her psychological fears were concerned she had no defense, no protection, besides this man who dispelled the darkness with the light he brought into her world.
Sano saved her from these disconcerting thoughts by re-entering the room and grinning at her widely in a way that made her narrow her eyes in suspicion.
'Party time.'
She stared at his retreating back as he once again left the room, trying and failing to catch his meaning. Did he not just see Battousai? He was either even stupider than she had initially thought or he was really, really brave. Kaoru was leaning firmly towards the former. She sighed, getting up and following the sound of his voice to the office.
'Yes, Katsu, three kegs should do it and don't forget the cards.'
Sano had the biggest smirk on his face she had ever seen. She shook her head at him and sighed.
'On your own head be it, 's all I'm saying,' she told him darkly.
'Don't waste your breath, Tanuki, he's about as likely to listen as he is to take off that ridiculous head-band.'
Megumi glided into the room, immaculately dressed in a cream blouse and deep red skirt, her nails and lips painted the same shade. Kaoru felt instantly dowdy and scowled, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. Suddenly, Battousai's black shirt and the baggy pair of sweats she'd tightened as far as they'd go no longer seemed to look even remotely acceptable.
Then a question hit her, how the hell had Magumi got in? Looking over her shoulder, the front door was still firmly closed and nothing seemed out of place.
'That's for me to know and you never to find out,' Megumi taunted, giving Sano a peck on the lips before turning to smile at her.
Kaoru would have retorted if it wasn't for the overwhelming urge to look disgusted at the sight of the beautiful doctor kissing Sano, the guy who was rapidly becoming like an older, very annoying brother to her.
'Katsu and the guys will be here in a few hours,' Sano said, radiating happiness as he wrapped an arm round Megumi's waist and pressed his lips to the top of her head.
Kaoru felt alternately nauseous and jealous, desperately missing that kind of affection from the man who had just left.
'Jou-chan, can you play poker?'
The excitement on Sano's face made him look so sweet and boyish that she couldn't help smiling in response, nodding the affirmative.
'Well, wherever you played I can promise you it wasn't the real deal. Tonight you're going to play the real game.'
Megumi rolled her eyes and made a face at Kaoru, flicking her hair over her shoulder in a habitual show of disdain Kaoru was coming to recognise after the several meetings they had had.
'What Tori-Atama is trying to say is you better be prepared for the best cheats, liars and poker faces in town because you're about to face a bunch of assassins at cards.'
Kaoru gulped at the image that came to her mind. She hoped none of them were sore losers.
That is how Kamiya Kaoru found herself sitting in the ballroom at a table of hit men, stroking her kitten with one hand and holding her cards with the other. It turned out the hard men with the cold eyes she had imagined killing everyone at the table if they lost were actually a lot like Sano, a fact which shouldn't really have surprised her. In fact, Katsu, who Sano had mentioned several times before the men arrived, had a striking resemblance to him in personality, even wearing much the same head-band only in green rather than red. She had found it highly amusing how, after a few drinks, the mention of their matching accessories had caused a friendly argument to burst out between them, both claiming they had invented this style trend.
She watched the disciplined assassins becoming steadily more inebriated as the night progressed. Soon they were slouching over the table, showing their cards to the world and laughing about past failed missions, all of which were top secret and shouldn't even have been mentioned in front of her, let alone discussed in detail.
After a while, she gave up trying to play a serious game of poker with any of them, since she inevitably got to see their cards no matter how much she tried to play fair. The real deal? If this was how to play true poker she wondered what the people in Vegas were playing when she'd gone there, because it definitely wasn't this game.
She ended up sitting squashed between Sano and an equally drunk Katsu, who was teasing the other man by mock lecturing him on the best hair care products to deal with his seemingly permanent bed head. The way Sano's face was going the same shade as his head-band told her it was about to get ugly, and she was just thinking of the best means of escape when the ballroom doors burst open, revealing Battousai, dressed head to toe in black, the colour contrasting beautifully with the fiery red of his hair and the livid amber of his eyes. She was sitting a fair distance from the entrance, but she could still see them flash angrily as his eyes searched the room. They came to a stop on her and she thought, as he made his way towards her seat with the fluidity of a predator, that he was coming for her, the idea making her tremble with a mixture of fear mostly overridden by excitement. Then she caught sight of Sano out of the corner of her eye. He was ghostly pale and the way he was desperately looking for an exit, his eyes darting this way and that like a cornered animal, told her clearly it was not her that the deadly assassin was stalking. Unfortunately for Sano, as she'd discovered herself, there was only one way out of that room and Battousai was blocking it.
She realised abruptly that it had gone deathly silent, the effect of Battousai's overwhelmingly powerful ki roiling with fury. Even she was holding her breath in anticipation of what that dark aura promised. Her instincts were screaming at her to hold perfectly still for fear that any sudden movement might set off some violent reaction in the approaching man, and she did as they guided, her years of kendo training having taught her to trust them.
Sano was beginning to visibly sweat, fidgeting in his seat as though he were trying to ignore his flight instinct.
'Hey, Kenshin, man, you're home early. Wasn't expecting you 'til at least tomorrow,' he said, feigning joviality and failing miserably.
His hand came up to scratch the back of his head in his telling habit of distress.
'Clearly,' was Battousai's icy response, his tone sending chills down everyone's spines. 'Or even you would not have been idiot enough to disobey my instructions. I guess I'll just go ahead and save Megumi the expense of that coffin I promised you you wouldn't need when I was done with you."
Megumi, sitting on the other side of Sano, barely flicked a glance up from filing her nails as Battousai drew his katana from the sheath attached to his belt, the sound echoing around the quiet room. Sano's white face managed to become even paler a feat she had not thought possible, and Kaoru began to wonder if he might faint.
Then, suddenly, within one blink and the next, she found herself dragged to her feet, Sano's five foot ten frame trying in vain to hide behind her smaller one. However, this move of self-preservation only seemed to infuriate Battousai further, his slow progress across the ballroom floor, designed and succeeding in making Sano sweat, becoming a blurr of movement until he was standing mere inches away from them.
One more step forwards and Sano's nerve snapped almost audibly. Kaoru found herself flung forwards with as much force as Sano could muster, stumbling into Battousai's chest with an oomph. He caught her instinctively in his arms, managing by some miracle to maintain his balance and not cut her with his katana.
'Take her instead,' Sano yelled, vaulting over the back of the sofa and dashing across the room so fast he could almost rival Battousai himself for speed. 'I'm too hot to die.'
Sighing, Megumi uncrossed her legs and followed at a sedate and elegant pace.
Kaoru scowled, keeping her eyes screwed tightly shut and making a mental note to kill Sano herself later for throwing her to the wolf. She felt a light pressure under her chin, nudging it up, and she opened them to find herself looking into intense pools of amber. On second thought, maybe she would buy him something nice. It must cost him a ton to buy enough bandages to wrap round his waist like that every day.
Her thoughts scattered like autumn leaves in the wind as Battousai's lips brushed hers in a feather light caress, whispering her name in that gravelly voice that left her no doubt as to what he wanted to do to her. A sigh slipped from her lips and her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation once again. If anyone interrupted this time she was going to use Battousai's katana to slice off important pieces of their anatomy, her principles be damned.
He caught her face in his hands, the calluses on his thumbs catching on the soft skin of her cheeks. His breath ghosted over her lips and she parted them slightly, her hands coming up to fist in his black shirt. They stayed in that position for what seemed like ages to Kaoru and she was just about to scream in frustration and beat the man to a pulp when his mouth descended on hers, hot and hard, the passion taking her breath away. She pressed against him, threading her fingers into his hair and following the guidance of his hands as they tilted her head to a more comfortable angle.
She gave a whimper of protest as he pulled back, but it was only long enough to give her a look so smouldering she was surprised she didn't melt into the ground right there, and then his mouth was slanting against hers once more, his tongue flicking out to run along the seam of her bottom lip. She opened for him and their tongues tangled, battling with the same skill they both had with a sword.
Time seemed to slow to a halt. They were in their own little world, their own private bubble in the center of the ballroom. Nothing mattered aside from the brush of hands and tongue, not the people or the noise of gunfire echoing from outside the house.
They froze, eyes flying open as they pulled apart. It was like the time they had lost as they kissed collided with them in one huge crash. People were running towards the ballroom doors, guns and swords drawn, and suddenly she could see the assassins in them, their eyes cold and focused with deadly intent. Where the hell was the slurring and swaying?
She could just make out Sano wading his way towards them, Megumi clinging to his side trying to mask the terror she was obviously feeling by shouting and cursing at people who got in their way. She never knew Megumi had such a wide vocabulary. It must have been Sano's influence.
She was drawn from these ridiculous thoughts as the sound of gunfire grew louder and an explosion lit up the night sky outside the windows, the chandeliers rattling loudly. This was definitely not good.
Author's note: Voila! The review button is right there! Use it and light up an author's boring life!
