(A/N: Beat me, flog me, stone in Wal-Mart parking lot... I know... I'm late. Bad Tsuki, bad Tsuki, bad Tsuki... Gomen nasai to Belle. Gomen nasai to the fans and readers.

"The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

I should be at least three quarters of the way there by now. Kanzen ne Tsuki)

Chapter Ten

Once Around The Track

Sano was standing behind a ruffled looking Saitou, who was still barking orders on how he expected the bull's pen cleaned out despite the lack of pitchforks, and all he could think about was Superman and Lois Lane. How many years did stupid old Lois go looking right into Clark Kent's face and not realize he was the dude in blue? Sano remembered laughing at the TV show and saying to Kaoru, "No one is really that stupid..." Well, he was going to have to change that opinion.

Not only had Shinomori's foreman, Kenshin, seen right through Kaoru's disguise, but so had Shinomori. So what was up with Saitou that he was the only one who couldn't tell 'Ru' was really 'Kaoru'? Once more, the word 'stupid' came to mind and he shook his head. The sexist old boy was going to see what he wanted to see, and that wasn't Kaoru. Present moment not included.

Saitou was still ranting about Kaoru being over at Shinomori's ranch without him knowing about it. Every few barks or so, he would turn back to Sano and demand to know if he knew when she was coming back.

"I don't like the fact that she is over there, Sanosuke."

"I understand that, Mr. Saitou, but her whereabouts are really not your concern seeing as she's not your employee. You told her not to bring Mr. Shinomori here; and she didn't. He took her there, and I think that is about as close to following your dictates as she can get, don't you agree?"

Saitou fumed and thinned his lips. He hated when someone threw his own words back at him, especially when they were using them to prove a point against him. "Yes, I agree, but I don't trust Shinomori. He may try something with her."

"Try something?" Sano swallowed his laughter. "Mr. Shinomori has been nothing but the perfect gentleman since he's met Kaoru. I have no qualms with her being with him. Besides, what's he gonna do with his Grandma right there?"

Saitou was trapped with that comment and he knew it. "Fine, but if anything does happen to her it's on your head."

"It would have been anyway, Sir. She's my sister."

"Go get Sou and Ru. I want the three of you to go over to Shinomori's and get my bull. The pen should be cleaned up by the time you get back with him. He's been a 'guest' over there long enough. I don't want him to start getting comfortable."

"Yes, sir." Sano tipped his hat and headed out to find the other two. It was going to be a long afternoon.

OoO

"You've certainly turned this whole thing into a fine mess, little sister."

"Me? I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't done anything."

"Are you shitting me? First Himura recognizes you through your get-up, and now Mr. Shinomori. You're just lucky they are both descent men, or they would have blown your cover wide open. I told you this was a bad idea from the start, but, noooo... you wouldn't listen to me."

"Shut-up, Sano. It is not a bad idea and we can use the extra income. Even if Mr. Saitou finds out, he still has to pay me for the work I've already done." Kaoru stared ahead, watching the road between the points of her horse's ears. "He couldn't be that big of a jerk to cheat me out of money I earned."

"I wouldn't put anything past him when he gets riled up, Missy. And you seem to have the gift of being able to rile him up just about better than anybody..."

"Except pretty, miss Tokio. Did you see his face when I told him Himura just wanted to apologize for his sister 'cause he just found out she was in town? He looked ready to explode. I think she's playing him for a fool... I bet she told him Himura wouldn't let her stay with him and that's why he let her stay at the Star S."

"Kaoru, you're gossiping... you know how Dad hated it when you gossiped and started getting into other people's business."

"I am not gossiping." Her eyes flashed as she threw her brother an angry look. "I'm... hypothesizing."

Soujiro couldn't help it any longer. He burst into laughter and nearly fell off his horse.

"And what's so funny?" she growled at her other companion.

"I'm sure glad we aren't related for real, little girl." Soujiro dabbed at tears sparkling in the corners of his eyes. "I'm not sure I could keep up with you. You set a fierce pace, that you do."

"Oh...shut-up, both of you. With the two of you around, I'll never have to worry about accumulating any real enemies. You're worse than anything I could pick up out in the real world." Except she knew that they weren't and as soon as the words were out of her mouth memories buried deep within her psyche started to flare up of what a real enemy was capable.

"Hey," Sano turned mock-pain filled eyes in his sister's direction. "That hurts, you know, and if I had a heart, I might actually cry." He snuffled.

The sound of her brother's pouting distracted Kaoru from her dark reverie. "Stow it, Rooster-head. One more crack out of you or Pretty-boy over here, and I'm gonna deck you."

"Aww, come on, Missy. I was just funnin' with ya." Sano winked and gave her his famous boyish half-smile. "You know, you love me."

Kaoru snorted and kicked her horse, urging it into a fast trot. "Yeah," she called over her shoulder. "But that don't mean I have to like you all the time."

"She got ya there, cowboy," Soujiro quipped with a chuckle.

"Shut-up, pretty-boy." Sano glared at the retreating form of his sister. He just hated it when she got in the last word.

OoO

The three riders approached the Black Snake Ranch about thirty minutes later and were casually greeted by a smiling redhead, holding a glass of brownish liquid.

"Hey," Kenshin called, waving his free hand. "You guys thirsty? I just got done brewing some ice tea?"

"Sounds great, I was worried that was your drinking water with all that brown." Sano slid off his horse and looped the reins around the convenient hitching post in front of the house. "Not that I would have cared much since I feel like I swallowed half the road on the way here."

"Yeah, and I swallowed the other half," Soujiro added as he tied up his mount.

"Oh, now hey there, Seta. You don't have an excuse." Kenshin laughed and winked at the younger man. "You've been a desert rat way too long for the dust to be a problem for you, but these two tender-foot's...well, that's a whole different story."

"I'm not a tenderfoot." Kaoru sauntered up the steps and glared Kenshin in the eyes. "I've been eating dust since I was about seven."

"Uh-huh. Does that mean you don't want a cold drink?" K enshin offered an indulgent smile, recognizing that her dander was up and decided not to add fuel to the fire.

Blue eyes flashed with embarrassment and Kaoru lowered her gaze. "Um, actually..."

"Of course you would. Come on in, everybody. Cold drinks all around." Soft, dry chuckles followed the foreman through the front door as he led the way inside. Kaoru sheepishly followed, throwing a warning look over her shoulder at the two grinning cowboys behind her.

"Don't either of you dare say one word," she threatened. "I mean it."

Inside Sano and Soujiro removed their hats, but Kaoru stubbornly kept her's on...like it was going to make any difference. They did all remove their boots at the door and then waited in the foyer. When Kenshin returned with a tray of glasses and a pitcher of tea and led them to the sitting room, he eyed Kaoru strangely.

"You know, you don't have to wear that around me... or Aoshi, don't you?"

"I..." she shrugged and looked nervous.

"Kaoru," Kenshin sat down and motioned for everyone else to sit. "It's not like we don't know 'who' you are, so take your hat off and be comfortable. Please?"

"Fine." Her voice was short and small, but the hat came off and perched in her lap. "Where is Aoshi anyway?"

"He's certainly not knitting with his grandmother," he said with a grin. "He's down pasture roping up Saitou's bull. It seems the old boy's found himself a couple of girlfriends and he's not too pleased about leaving. The boys were having some trouble getting their hands on him."

"The Boss isn't going to be too pleased about that." Soujiro shook his head as he accepted a glass of tea with a lemon wedge. "He's already got plans for mating that bull with several of his own heifers, not to mention the breeding revenue he's planning on raking in once he shows him at the State and County Fairs this year. Mr. Shinomori getting 'it' for free just isn't going to sit well at all."

"Sorry about that, Sou, but it couldn't be helped."

"True," Sano was nodding with his companion and looking thoughtful over the top of his glass, and then with his eye sparkling a devilish gleam, he said. "But what can you do with a horny bull in a meadow filled with fresh, willing women? I don't know about you, but I'm not so sure I'd want to try and get in his way. He might mistake me for one of them heifers. Now you talk about being screwed... whoa, big boy."

"Sanosuke!" Kaoru screeched, her face going beet red. Kenshin and Soujiro busted into peals of laughter. Soujiro almost choked on his tea.

"Pretty cool stuff in this place," Sano commented as his gaze went over the various art pieces.

"Mr. Shinomori collects," Kenshin answered. He looked out the window and motioned for them to put their boots back on. "Speaking of the great collector he's about here. We best go and meet him."

Aoshi and two of his men arrived with the massive beast in tow. It was taking the strength of three horses to keep the bull under control, and Sano was quietly thankful there were three of them to escort the mammoth back to The Star S. Otherwise, they might have had a real problem on their hands. Having Shinomori show up on the ranch again, or even Himura would just be too much for Saitou to handle. It would be World War III Nuclear Holocaust for sure, and the fallout would last for weeks. None of them needed that.

"You're sure you can handle him from here?" Aoshi was concerned. He didn't like the idea of Kaoru being in the middle of taking the bull back to Ranch. "I'd be more than happy to..."

"No, thanks, Mr. Shinomori." Sano tipped his hat politely. "I'm sure we'll be fine. He looks pretty tuckered out as it is. I don't think he'll give us much trouble."

"I appreciate that, Mr. Sagara, but your sister..."

"Is more than capable of doing what needs to be done." Sano's eyes turned hard though the tone of his voice remained the same. "No offense, Mr. Shinomori, but we've had about all the emotional theatrics today we care to deal with. I know you don't have any idea why Kaoru's doing what she's doing, and frankly, it's none of your business.

"If she wants to explain it to you, that is up to her, but if you go interfering with 'Ru' doing his job, you're going to blow her cover. I can't let you do that. I appreciate your intentions, I really do, but I can't accept them. That's her choice, not mine. If I had my choice, she'd be back at the ranch helping Kamatari fix supper.

"Trouble is, I haven't ever been able to control what she does... at least, not with too much success. So, unless you want hell to rain down on her head...and mine, you need to treat Ru like a man the same way you do me and Sou, here. Otherwise, our lives are gonna get a whole lot more complicated than they already are, and, trust me, I don't need that right now. Do you follow me?"

Aoshi stared hard into the younger man's face, trying to judge just what the hell was going on, and all he could come up with was the siblings were in some kind of trouble. "Mr. Sagara, if you need money, I can..."

"No!" The answer was short and sharp, Sano turning away to untie his horse. "We've never accepted charity or loans a day in our life. Our troubles are our own and we pay our own way." He turned back and offered the stunned man a stony expression. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but the answer is and always will be no. When we get ourselves out of debt, we'll either find a way for Ru to disappear and Kaoru can find a job in town, or we'll move on. That's just the way it will have to be. I'd just appreciate it if you and Mr. Himura would be kind enough to keep our secret."

"Of course." Aoshi nodded, his need to help deflated. "But promise me something." He reached out and put a hand on Sano's shoulder. " If the hammer drops on your heads over there and you get stuck between a rock and a hard place... you come to me for help. I know you don't have anyone else to depend on, so I want you to promise me that. Will you?"

"I..." Sano looked down at the worn, scuffed toes of his boots and swallowed. It was a hard thing for him to do. He had to think about Kaoru. If Saitou ever found out what she was pulling on him, the explosion would reach all the way back to Virginia. "Okay." He locked gazes with the rancher. "I'll come to you if the shit hits... for her sake."

Kenshin decided it was not the right time to talk to Soujiro and Kaoru about George Seta and Madeline Bishop. It could wait.

"What's on your mind, Himura?" Aoshi asked when Saitou's crew left his lands with the bull under their control.

"Just more family drama. We've got plenty to do other than dwell on that, that we do."

"You're absolutely right about that Himura."

OoO

"Where is that damn kid?" Saitou fumed, glaring at Soujiro from behind his desk. "I send you off to get my bull and he disappears to parts unknown? What the hell is going on here, Seta? Surely your brother doesn't have two dead dogs."

"No, sir." Soujiro bit the inside of his cheek and geared himself up for the big lie. It was a good thing his Uncle was an understanding man. "It's been a while since Uncle Okita saw Ru, and after getting a look at him this morning... well, he wanted to take him home to spend a little time. I'm surprised he didn't mention it to you."

He decided that to scratch his head would be a good gesture to add to the confused act he was putting on. "I'm sure I heard him say he was going to run it by you before he took Ru off the ranch...hmm."

"You mean to tell me your Uncle has him?" Saitou's hands were on his hips and a half smoked cigarette hung out of his mouth. "He hasn't just up and disappeared?"

"No, sir. He's just over at Uncle Okita's for the evening. He'll be back in his bunk before eleven."

"Oh...well, all right." A puff of smoke rose around Saitou's face and he absently flicked the ash on the floor. "I suppose it's fine if he's spending some time with Okita. I hadn't thought about that. He probably hasn't seen the boy in years, has he?"

"No, sir. It's been at least... oh, five or six years, um-hum."

"That should make Okita happy then. Well, good enough. All right, Seta." He waved the young man off and turned to sit down behind his desk. "Oh, wait a minute. Have you seen Kamiya? Did she ever come back from Shinomori's place yet?"

"Oh, yes sir. I saw her about ten minutes ago. She was down by the paddock talking with her brother." Soujiro nodded at the strange, wide-eyed looked Saitou gave him, and wandered off down the hallway toward the bunkhouse and a hot shower.

"What the hell is she doing down by the paddock?" Saitou muttered to himself, taking a drag off his cigarette. "She'll get hurt down there... idiot woman." Without thinking about what he was doing, the tall, iron-willed man stood up and left his office. The determination in his stride leading him out the back of the ranch house, past the back gate, down the path toward the barn, and in search of one ebon-tressed, blue-eyed female.

It took him all of thirty seconds to find her once he passed the barn and entered the paddock. She was standing in the middle of the stalls, leaning over the gate, petting something. The soft crooning of her voice floated easily along the confined, tunnel-like space, and Saitou stopped to listen to it.

He noticed her jeans were stretched tight over her curvaceous buttocks and a wave of heat slithered through his vitals, bringing a hiss to lips. 'Damn her!' He thought as he clenched his fists as his sides. 'Why is this happening to me? Why is it happening with her? I don't even like her? Do I?'

He took a deep breath and cautiously approached her. He didn't want to startle her, but he didn't want her to think he was sneaking up on her either. As it turned out, he would have been better off calling her name than walking up behind her.

Kaoru gently stroked the velvety nose of the elegant creature laying in the sweet smelling straw. 'Exitor', Saitou's prized white, quarter horse stud. Worth about $100,000. He was beautiful and Kaoru was smitten. Each time she touched him he would flick his ears and push against her hand. This big boy loved attention, but she also knew he loved to run. Sometimes the boys would let him loose in the pasture and he would go wild, bucking and crow-hopping all over the place, and then he would take off at a dead run and fly over the ground like a ghost on speed.

He was magnificence itself.

"You're nothing but a great big cream-puff, aren't you?" She crooned and ran her hand the length of his face and then tickled an ear. "And you're spoiled rotten, too." She giggled as a contented growl rumbled out of the big horse's chest. "You sound more like a big old bear than a horse. What are they feeding you anyway? Salmon and cavi... waaaaaeeep!"

Something brushed up against her hip and part of her ass and Kaoru freaked out. Squealing at the top of her lungs, she snapped up and stumbled back coming into abrupt contact with a solid, nearly immovable object. Then suddenly that object gave beneath her unsteady weight and both it and she fell backwards to the floor.

THUMP THUD SKID

"OOOF!"

"OOWE!"

It took Kaoru several seconds to clear her head and regain her bearings, and once she did several things became alarmingly clear to her.

She was on the floor with someone else.

She was sitting on top of that someone else's lap.

During the fall, that someone had grabbed her and pulled her against them to cushion her from the worst of the impact, and in the chaos, somehow, their hands had ended up cupping both of her breasts.

The boots sticking out of the Levi's flanking her legs were a rich black leather with intricately tooled patterns lacing up the sides and across the foot. On the toes were fancy gold tips that were also engraved. There was only one person she knew that wore boots like that.

'Oh my God...' She was sitting in the middle of Hijame Saitou, and he was holding her breasts in his hands. 'What in the hell am I going to do now?' Behind her, Saitou was having much the same dilemma.

'Holy fucking hell...how did this... what am I... aww shit!' "Ah, are you all right?" It was all he could think of.

"I...um... I think so. Are you? I mean, you hit the hardest. I landed on top of you." Once she said it, Kaoru could have bit her tongue.

"Ah, yes you did, but I think I'm fine. Maybe bruised my tailbone...and my dignity, but other than that..."

"Dignity?" A thread of humor trickled into her voice and she turned slightly so she could see his face. "You have dignity?" Thankfully, he chose that moment to tactfully lower his hands to her hips, a bit belatedly. "I thought it was just an over developed sense of arrogance and conceit."

"Conceit?" He lifted an eyebrow and locked gazes with her, the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. For some very strange reason he couldn't find a shred of indignant anger or annoyance to throw in her face. Instead, he found their compromising situation rather stimulating. "I have been labeled many things in my life, but 'conceited' has not been among them."

"I find that difficult to believe." Kaoru was starting to feel rather warm, and her position in his lap wasn't as uncomfortable as it had been a moment ago. 'What's the matter with me?' She thought almost absently as her gaze dropped to his lips. 'I don't even like him...do I?'

"Truly, I've usually been known to be quite a gentleman."

"Really?"

"Yes. May I help you up, Miss Kamiya?"

"It seems you'll have to, Mr. Saitou, seeing as how I'm splattered all over the middle of you at the moment. I'd probably hurt... things, if I tried to get up alone." A coy blush stained her cheeks as she dropped her eyes and turned away. 'What the hell am I doing?' She screamed at herself. Are you out of your everlasting mind, girl? You're flirting with the rudest...cruelest...meanest... God his eyes are gorgeous... KAORU! You like Aoshi... remember? Jeez, he smells good too...'

Saitou carefully lifted the scant weight of Kaoru off of him and stood up, then he leaned down and pulled her to her feet. Unfortunately, Kaoru was still a bit unsteady on her feet and stumbled... right into his arms. His reflexes caught her, pinning her against his chest while preventing her from falling on her face. As she righted herself and stood up, her face brushed his, dragging her lips over the top of his. Both pulled back in surprise at the accidental contact, wide blue eyes meeting and locking with stunned gold.

"I..." She tried to apologize but nothing would come out of her mouth as she stared into his smoldering amber crystals.

"You, what?" He asked as his hand rose to cup the back of her head, his fingers tangling themselves inside the ebony silk.

"I..." Again she could say nothing, but her hands lifted to rest on his shoulders, massaging the sinuous muscles she found there.

"What's the matter, Kamiya? Cat got your tongue?" He watched her swallow and then slowly nod. "Sounds interesting," he murmured, increasing the pressure on her head and leaning down toward her. "I think I might try that myself."

"Oh... shit..." Kaoru finally found her voice just as Saitou's lips closed over hers, silencing whatever else she may have wanted to say.

(A/N: Alas, there is no one to thank for helping... I am on my knees in eternal apology to those who have been waiting. They are the only ones who deserve to be thanked. Also, the most humble of thanks to my Belle, and the most deep of apologies. kneels and bangs head on floor in shame. Sits as such for 2 weeks .)

Edited: 2/20/10