---------
"Kaoru!" Misao bounded into her arms, hugging for one fierce second before tugging the stunned kendo teacher inside. "You're okay!"
"Uh... yes..." Surreptitiously checking she still had all her limbs attached, Kaoru made her way deeper into the lab somebody had made out of a converted Brooklyn factory. Ugh, country music... why is everybody looking at me? "We were worried about you, too. Ba- Kenshin's friend said he hoped you... hit the little guy somewhere painful." Knifed him between the third and fourth ribs would have been a closer translation. Temporary truce or not, the blade had been rather up-front about exactly what he'd prefer to do to anyone who kidnapped one of his friends.
"Oh, I munched him a little," the little lab tech said cheerfully, leading her past a brunette secretary currently blowing a large, pink bubble as she finished reassembling a small semi-automatic. "Not that I think he noticed a few hours later... hi, Susan!"
Pop. Susan nodded, pointing at an appointment book on her computer screen.
"Yep!"
A shrug of shoulders, and an elegant wave of shell-pink nails.
"Thanks!"
"Ah-" Kaoru couldn't quite bring herself to ask.
"Oh, she talks on the phone just fine," Misao nodded. Dropped her voice. "Incubi can really mess with your head."
"I guess so," Kaoru managed, breathing in coffee, the faint, lingering scent of gunpowder, and a crispy taste of something that wasn't quite fried chicken. "Ah - I was called here for a temp job; staffing for Silver Systems-"
"That's us!" Misao said cheerfully. "One of our names, anyway. C'mon, give us a try for a day. We could really, really use your help."
"You've got to have people who can type," Kaoru said warily. Her resume had far more skills than that on it, but that was what the job had claimed to be.
"But not that many who've survived being cut by a Muramasa blade." A skinny guy with a pocket protector, a black cowboy hat, and a purplish bruise along his jaw leaned against the wall by a lab door, eyes on her like a cat on a mouse. "Ms. Kamiya, I presume?"
Misao's smile slipped a little. "Kaoru, Texas Holstein. Head of R&D, and my boss."
"You're the guy who wanted to bring Yahiko in for tests!" Blue eyes narrowed, and Kaoru grabbed for the gym bag she hadn't dared leave at home. "Well, forget firing me, because I quit!"
"Ack!" Texas barely ducked her swing. "Wait, wait, wait!"
"It's a real job!" Misao said hastily. "Honest! A day of piecework. We ask you some questions, take a few readings - that's it!"
Glaring, Kaoru puffed a stray bit of black hair out of her face, glancing at the small crowd of people poking their heads out of various doorways to watch her assault their boss. At least one small bet had just changed hands.
Which almost made her feel sorry for the man. Just a little.
A day of piecework, huh? "Fine," Kaoru said shortly. "You want to ask about Jin-e, I'll tell you about Jin-e. That's it."
"That's it?" Holstein repeated, disbelieving. "But this is an unparalleled opportunity-"
"Thanks!" Misao jumped in. "Come on, let me show you around..."
---------
Misao perched on a lab stool, hiding a grin as Kaoru submitted to a light skin scraping but narrowed her eyes at the needle Holstein tried to accidentally-on-purpose take out of a lab kit. I should make popcorn, the lab tech thought irreverently.
True to her word, Kaoru had spared no detail, however gruesome, about Jin-e; from Kenshin's first suspicions that he'd been followed, to Kaoru's own kidnapping, to the icy poison of the wakizashi's bite into her neck. Also true to her word, she'd refused to discuss Yahiko, Kenshin, or Battousai in any way, shape, or form.
You go, girl!
Oh, Misao was all for finding out more about Kin and how they worked. But she'd seen too much of how hard Sano and Battousai fought to hang onto their own humanity in the midst of their job to be truly comfortable with Holstein's attitude of if it moves, sample it; if it doesn't, dissect it.
Without a bearer, after all, Battousai couldn't move.
Just like Jin-e couldn't….
She shivered, as if someone had dripped ice water down her spine. Which was ridiculous. Even Holstein had agreed the Muramasa blade was too dangerous to examine without level four containment measures in place. One careless nick, and someone's soul would be lost forever. For now, the blade was sealed up, untouched by any hands, no matter how well-armored. She knew that. She'd checked on the lab's containment measures as soon as she'd come in to work. All of them.
Just as she'd used her own computer to check on the security cameras, the computer network, and a few electronic nasty tricks she hadn't even imagined protected the building….
Why did I do that?
Unbidden, iolite gleamed blue-violet in her mind.
"We don't wear rings."
"Listen, you over-educated cross-wirer of bug zappers - Misao?" Kaoru shot a concerned look her way.
"People in my family don't wear rings," Misao clarified, feeling a blush rise into her cheeks. "They get in the way while we're practicing." Practicing what, Holstein didn't need to know. Ninjutsu had always been her ace in the hole, her last line of escape in case everything went to hell and Kin crashed into the lab. Nobody needed to know. "And Grandpa keeps up the old tradition that we're always practicing. So we don't wear them."
Holstein rolled his eyes, trying to look casual about putting the still-capped needle and syringe away. "And exactly what does this have to do with Kurogasa?"
"Nothing! Just thinking out loud," Misao said hastily. "It's… not really important." But it is. Aoshi would never wear a ring.
So why did he?
Kim Possible's ring-tones went off at her belt, and Misao jumped. "Sorry - I'll take this in the hall…."
Outside the door, she found a niche between two piles of computer printout and opened her cell phone. "Hello?"
"Misao."
And the world went gray.
"Aoshi-sama…."
"You have prepared, as I asked you?"
"Yes," Misao said dreamily. "Everything's ready."
"Are you safe? Somewhere you will not be harmed?"
"Yes."
"Then begin."
"Hai, Okashira."
Misao pressed the sequence to put him on hold, then calmly, easily set off the text messages to trip measures she had prepared in advance. Alarms. Surveillance. Power.
Lights out.
Phone still on and open, Misao waited in the chaos for her master to find her.
---------
Something's wrong.
What, Kenshin couldn't pin down. Their white plastic table was relatively free of stray gum-wads, and in a corner of the mall food court Battousai approved of as both good to spot trouble from and easy to get out of if it happened to show up. Their clothes were paid for and bagged at their feet. Yahiko was munching his way through his third hot dog. And Tyler had proven to be surprisingly easy to talk to, on any subject as perilous as the weather (vulnerable to Kin influence in surprising ways) or innocuous as staying in one piece in an all-out Kin-street gang war ("Duck", had been the laconic advice).
Or perhaps not so surprising, at that. Battousai's memories did say Darrow had been a reporter, before finding a talent for horror.
:And that unsettles you?: Battousai asked.
No… not that….
It was just a bit startling, sometimes, to realize how much the blade did remember. Like that night in Chinatown writ large; even when he didn't specifically ask Battousai about the lay of the land, every place he'd been today was familiar. Even if he'd never seen it. Especially if he'd never seen it.
And when he had - then the sense of déjà vu was almost painful, as competing impressions of this is the city I live in and this is the territory I hunt drew knives and glared at each other.
:Easy,: the blade soothed. :You'll grow used to it.:
I'm forgetting myself….
:No. You are creating a self. As you swore you would. Kenshin Himura who knew nothing of Kin is dead, and we have mourned him; Kenshin Himura who is my willing bearer lives, and so confounds our enemies. My memories are but another blade to your hand. You are a swordsman. You gave me your word you would not shrink from that.:
Don't you throw that back at me! Fingers clenched on the table. After what I've done to Yahiko-
"Umm…." Tyler glanced at the crackling of plastic under claws. "Problem?"
On his last bite of hot dog, Yahiko froze. Glanced around the court for anything suspicious. Raised an eyebrow at his brother.
"Has-" Kenshin swallowed dryly. "Has Samantha ever Tagged you?"
Deliberately, Yahiko chewed and swallowed, trying not to make it obvious he was looking anywhere else.
Tyler's glance barely flickered toward the teen, before he let out a slow breath. "Yeah, actually… couple months back, after a bunch of Stakes shoved their Uzis in my face and tried to give the 'Kinsucker' a lead supplement. If we hadn't been there to meet a Sorceress friend of hers, I'd've been featured on the obituary page." A wry grin tugged at his lips. "Never realized you could clean and floss with an electrical fire before."
Yahiko's eyes widened.
"Yeah, I know what I sound like," Tyler said grimly. "They were out to kill me, Yahiko. Not because I'd ever done anything to them. Just for being a Crowley." He softened his voice. "Like you."
The teenager gulped.
"I don't like seeing people fried to death in front of me," Tyler stated. "I'm a writer. I'm - well, I used to be - a nice, quiet, law-abiding citizen. I don't like violence. But… if I'm going to stay with Samantha, with my friends - then I've got to accept that sometimes violence happens. Kin don't have cops, and Target Alpha - well, no offense-"
"None taken," Kenshin nodded. "Battousai has always had his own disagreements with agency policy, although DiBuccio has his respect."
"Had?" Tyler pounced.
Oh, no, Kenshin groaned silently.
:Hmm… perhaps it's not so bad as you might think,: Battousai mused. :Darrow has Golgotha's ear, and that is no small thing in Kin society.:
"My partnership with Battousai was an accident," Kenshin said carefully. "The agency doesn't approve, but DiBuccio has arranged for me to have official standing. The situation is still… unpredictable."
"You think they're waiting to see if you get killed off, so they can hand the sword over to a trained agent?" Tyler said bluntly.
"Hey!" Yahiko planted his hands on the table. "Sano would never-"
"Sano would not, no," Kenshin agreed. "Nor Misao, nor Uramura, nor DiBuccio himself - I think. For the others-" He made himself shrug, even if the thought made his stomach sink to his ankles. "It's possible, that it is."
"You're not going to die!"
Nearly teetering over from a sudden desperate armful of teenager, Kenshin steadied his chair and stroked mussed brown hair. "Maa, maa, Yahiko-kun," he murmured. "We'll not be easily harmed, I swear it. Shhh…."
It was easier to purr, this time. Easier to gather the little one close and soothe that desperate ki with his own, even if the open food court meant he had to use a gentle prickle of claws along the neck in place of fangs. Fangs would have been easier, more in tune with instinct - but touch was touch, and cub-will-not-be-harmed the same no matter what weapon carried the message.
A sudden soft sigh, and a limp weight on his shoulder, told him the message had gotten through quite well, indeed.
"How late were you up last night?" Tyler demanded in an undertone.
Kenshin blinked, stunned by the utter sense of trust filtering through sleeping ki. "Not that late, I thought."
:We make him feel safe,: Battousai observed. :I do not think he has felt so since his parents died.:
Cub, Kenshin reflected, trying not to shiver at the heavy weight of responsibility that instinct brought.
Not to mention the fine edge of insanity.
One with my mark, I - I have to protect. If something threatened Yahiko - I wouldn't stop, I wouldn't hesitate, I wouldn't even check my conscience. The threat would cease.
:I would stop you.:
Not for the right reasons, Kenshin insisted.
:Not for the same reasons, no. But if the act would truly damage your soul - yes, I would stop you.: A cool laugh. :Though I would prefer it if both of those who are ours avoided any situations that would force us to make such dire choices.:
Both of those who are ours…. "Kaoru," Kenshin said softly.
"Say what?" Tyler asked warily.
"It's Kaoru." Kenshin smoothed brown hair. "Yahiko's safe, I can feel it - it's not him. It has to be Kaoru."
"Whoa, whoa," Tyler waved his hands, "your Tag doesn't just locate a human? It lets you know something's wrong?"
"Sometimes." It hadn't with Sano, and Jin-e; but then, the Muramasa blade had ever been skilled at concealing his ki. Sanosuke's flare of fear had been his only warning before-
We didn't lose him. We did not lose him.
:But he is still unmarked.: Battousai's unease rippled through him.
You want to do that to him again? After what I've done to Kaoru, and Yahiko?
:He has asked for it. Is it yourself you do not trust, my own - or him?:
A fair question, Kenshin admitted to himself, fighting back a faint red haze of anger. What he had with his brother and his brother's sensei was - private. Intimate.
Family.
To possibly let Sano into that closeness… no. No matter how much a friend Battousai considered him. He couldn't.
Later. Argue about it later. Kenshin let out a soft breath, and set it aside. Steadying Yahiko against him, Kenshin closed his eyes and reached for the heartbeat that was Kaoru-
Fog.
No!
:No,: Battousai growled, rage rising like an Arctic tsunami. :She is ours. She is mine, and no one can block me from what is mine! No one, save-:
"Oniwabanshuu," Kenshin breathed.
Fury drowned him.
---------
Clinging to a bus strap, Tyler wondered if his fellow passengers would mind too awfully much if he clawed through the nearest window glass and dove out into Brooklyn traffic.
I want to go home now. Please?
He could have sat down. There was room enough. Packed as the bus was, there was an inexplicable empty space around Himura, filled with a cool, controlled rage that had driven ordinary New Yorkers away and twanged Tyler's Kin-hardened nerves like a violin string.
Yahiko was sitting down. Tyler couldn't quite figure out how.
Then again, he couldn't quite get how the kid had fallen asleep on a Kin assassin in the first place; a Kin Golgotha himself had admitted he'd rather not try going up against, one-on-one.
Partly an assassin, Tyler reminded himself. The guy holding the sword's still a decent guy….
A decent man who'd set his yawning brother gently on his feet, whispered a soft, calming word - then touched his sword-hilt, straightened his shoulders, and drawn focus around him like a veil of snow.
Then led them out into the city, following the occult thread that bound him to Kaoru.
And can he walk like a normal person? Tyler thought, exasperation bubbling up through the frozen dread. Can he even call a cab? Ha! Like I'd be that lucky.
Bus, subway, back street, passing slow truck - Tyler had a lingering blurry impression of panic, a tractor-trailer full of furniture, and some very startled gang-bangers catching a piano in the teeth.
Crow might have gotten here faster, the writer thought. But not by much.
And now they were on a bus again, on the next leg of whatever bizarre trail Kenshin - or Battousai - had decided was the shortest distance between two points.
Tyler had a sinking suspicion that wherever that was, the bus didn't stop there.
And that they'd be getting off anyway.
I really, really want to go home.
But he'd learned a lot about Kin this past year; from Samantha X, and other, less friendly sources. Human as most of them might have once been, they were predators now, with all a top predator's stranglehold of instincts. Human mind and morals let them fight it, sometimes, but still….
LT Sally had tried to cheek him once, right in Club AfterDark, back when he'd first met Samantha. An innocent enough approach… well, innocent as any Succubus looking for her next meal could be. Samantha had been cold, but not violent; intimidating, but only as much as was necessary to get Sally to back off and stay off.
Another, less experienced Succubus by name of Jasmine had tried the same thing, barely a month ago. Samantha had all but torn her heart out.
Tagged people were territory, Samantha had explained while cleaning up afterward; halting, barely looking him in the eye. There was a mark in his aura that said he was her prey, nobody else's. Mess with that, and prepare to die.
"Prey" didn't exactly sort well with "sort-of boyfriend" in his head, but Tyler had swallowed the angry words, trying to think it through. It made sense, sort of. Predators tended to stake out and defend a territory large enough to survive on, and humans hadn't always been as plentiful prey as they were these days. Willing donors were scarce, a necessary hedge against starvation in bad times. A canny Kin intending to move in on someone else's turf would avoid anyone with a Tag. At least, until after they'd wiped out the original territory holder.
Something had just stomped all over Kenshin's turf. With cleats. Tyler wasn't sure exactly what would happen next, but he was willing to bet on violence.
Which on the surface would seem to make it a stupid idea to still be here. Any ordinary New Yorker would be running for his life.
And any ordinary New Yorker would likely already be dead.
Run from an angry predator? I don't think so.
Walk away, maybe; he probably could have managed that. Despite the odd, steel-blue gleam of the sword-bearer's eyes, Kenshin still seemed to have control of himself. For now.
But then Tyler would never know what happened. At least not until it was over.
Curiosity's going to kill me, one of these days, Tyler reflected ruefully, as the bus jolted past a steaming cab, a tow truck, and two policemen throwing a chain-decked young man up against a wall, plucking off his knives like steel grapes. "So… where are we going again?"
"Where you shouldn't."
Ow. "And these Oniwabanshuu are-?"
He was talking to empty air.
Damn! Even carrying a kid, he's fast as Golgotha said-
And… the strap really was a good idea, after all.
Tyler held on as the bus squealed to an unplanned stop, let go and wove his way forward through yelling passengers before the driver could recover and get started again. "Thanks!"
Rubbing a suspicious red mark along his throat, the driver gave him a look usually reserved for stockbrokers who decided to bungee-jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.
Who, me? I'm sane. Really. I'm- Tyler looked up and down the quiet but grungy streets of a Brooklyn manufacturing district, heart sinking. -Totally clueless about where to go.
The writer's nose wrinkled suddenly, and he sneezed. Smoke?
Where there's smoke, there's fire - and humans using the first weapon the Herd ever had against Kin.
He rounded a corner, two-
Chaos.
It had been a factory, once. He could see that in the solidity of concrete and steel, the blocky lines that didn't pretend to be anything other than what they were; a fortress of making against a world that all too often wanted nothing more than to destroy.
Now, it lay broken, bleeding fire and smoke; half of one wall gouged out as if giant claws had dug in and pulled.
Fire and smoke and… people….
Swallowing as he recognized the scent of burning blood, Tyler dug desperate fingers into his hair. Oh god, I can't do this. I'm not a cop, not a fireman, damn sure not a paramedic. I'm just a writer. I'm-
-Here.
And right now, I'm all they've got.
"To the burning hells with security!" Kenshin snarled somewhere inside the broken walls. "Call for ambulances now, or your next sight will be the morgue!"
Not quite all, Tyler realized with painful relief, venturing into the thinning smoke. We've got a shopkeeper-slash-assassin on the case.
For all the good that would do. He kind of doubted they handled large-scale disaster medicine in Kin assassin school-
A clawed hand grabbed his. "Have you any training?"
Steel-blue, flecked with amber; Tyler recoiled instinctively, flicking his glance away from that gaze to-
Red. White. Something pale and tan flapping loose over both of them that really shouldn't be.
Oh god, that's someone's-
Kenshin yanked him sideways to throw up, aiming him away from broken flesh and bone. "Tyler." His voice was quiet, gentle. Unyielding as steel. "Tyler, we need your help. We need everyone's help. I want you to stay with Yahiko and do what I say. Wakarimasu ka?" He stopped, shook his head. "Do you understand?"
"I'm good." Tyler swallowed, focussing on the white-faced teen hovering nearby. "I- but what can I do?"
"Hold lives together."
There were gloves; odd blue not-quite-latex things Tyler had never seen before, from a box Kenshin grabbed out of a cabinet drawer and tossed at them both. There was gauze and padding from boxes Kenshin and one or two of the ambulatory people yanked off of walls, and clawed hands guiding his own to lean pressure on a moaning brunette's ravaged leg. There were yells and fire extinguishers blasting and a blessed blurring of chaos….
Only it wasn't chaos, Tyler realized, after what seemed an eternity of shattered instants. There was order, crystallizing around that flow of red hair. An odd, bloodstained order; the lightly injured herded to help or sit and rock outside, the hopeless smears that had been living bodies left to lie, those claw and fang-ravaged but still living paired with helping hands….
And another pair of gloved hands worked in and around his, smearing something mint-green and sparkling into the wound. Red stopped trickling around his gloves; the brunette slumped, moans dying to painful whimpers.
"That should do for now," his tall, elegant savior breathed, tossing back her black hair. "Damn, I need this tied back - discard those, grab one of those twist-ties and do it, would you?"
Tyler blinked at her. Red. So much red….
"Wonderful," she growled. "Risk my neck to come down here on Rooster-head's say-so - Yahiko! Your friend's broken!"
"He's not- I-" Yahiko curled on himself, white-faced.
"No!"
Kenshin caught bloody gloves before they could touch skin; held them, pinning the dazed brown gaze with softening violet. "Yahiko." Soft. A little shaky. "Let me take those off you, so you can help Megumi."
"Better idea," a tall, brown-haired young thug with a red headband and a grim look said, snapping a cell phone closed. "You can help me keep an eye on outside, in case whoever did this came back. Battousai's a lot better at field medicine than I am, anyway."
"Oniwabanshuu," Kenshin growled. "They took Kaoru, Sano!"
"Yeah, I - you know it's them?" Sano gave the redhead a stunned look. "She called me before some were-tiger dragged her away from the phone - said you never carry a cell. And I couldn't reach you 'cause you didn't take your mike, which I thought we'd talked about-"
"Just go!"
"Going, going…."
Shedding his gloves and reaching for a second set, Tyler finally took a look around the tables, microwaves, and counters covered with odd instruments. This isn't a factory, this is a science lab! What are we doing in a- Realization washed over him. Ohmigod, we're in a Target Alpha lab….
Sirens. Relief hit like a punch to the gut, winding him.
Kenshin's head snapped up, and he breathed a low, Japanese curse. "Megumi-dono. Hold Susan still, I need to see to her before they take her elsewhere-"
Mewling, the brunette tried to scrabble away.
"Susan-chan." Amber narrowed; his voice was a wind off glacier ice. "I do not need you conscious to treat your wound for Infection. The paramedics do, for your physical wounds - but persist in this foolishness, and I will let them take their chances." Amber flared at Megumi. "Hold her."
Susan screamed.
Shuddering, Tyler found himself outside, hands on his knees as he tried to just breathe-
"Move!"
The writer scrabbled out of the path of a very angry group of armed men and women, adding rune-carved semi-automatics and Fed-type suits and coming up with I don't really want to know.
"Uramura's team." Sano plucked Tyler out of the way of the paramedics running in their wake, nodding toward the Japanese-looking agent in glasses in the lead. "Good. They'll know Kenshin's not trying to hurt her."
Tyler stared at the agent, wondering just what had stopped his ears up. Hello? Screaming?
"Were-tiger claw-rakes," Sano said, slow and clear as if he were talking to a quarterback unearthed from a scrimmage pile. He held Tyler's gaze a second more, shrugged and glanced at the dazed teen standing out of the way by the wall, shaking with every shriek. "If Kenshin doesn't clear out the Infection, she could end up Kin. And that's Susan. She'd probably kill herself."
"B-but Kenshin-" Yahiko stammered, face white.
"Walked into it for his own reasons," Sano said bluntly. "Hell of a lot of difference between that, and knowing somebody tore you up and left you to die. Or change."
"Like Tae." Yahiko swallowed dryly. "Where's Kaoru?"
"Damned if I know," Sano bit out. "'Sai followed her mark here? She should be here."
"Part of her was."
Tyler jumped involuntarily, staring wide-eyed at the bloodied ghost that had appeared out of the smoke. How can anybody be that silent?
Yahiko stared at the specter's hands instead, clawed fingers cupping an origami woman marked with alien kanji, dotted with drying red-brown, and wrapped with a strand of blue-black hair. "The heck?"
"A ninja illusion." Steel-blue glowed, flecked with lethal amber. "Known to the clans of Iga, and honed to lethal perfection by the shadow-servants of the Shogunate known as… the Oniwabanshuu."
Tyler fought the urge to run shrieking. Oh, he'd heard classic writer cliches about "frozen rage" before, and he'd been at ground zero of everything from an incipient bar fight to a Kin rumble, but-
This - it's like being dumped in the Arctic Sea, and the sharks are circling, and they don't care….
With a shake of red hair, those terrible eyes closed, clawed fists trembling.
And the deadly chill… eased.
Steel-blue opened again, free of amber rage. "Yahiko."
The boy swallowed. "You're still mad."
"Yes," the swordsman admitted evenly. "But I won't hurt you. I will never let the rage gain enough hold to hurt you, that I will not-"
"Why did they do that?"
Kenshin made an odd sound as a teenager grabbed hold like he was the last rope out of the abyss; to Tyler's ears, it sounded kind of like "Oro?"
"Why," Yahiko's muffled wail filtered through the red gi, "why would anyone, why, why-"
"Dunno," Sano said grimly, checking his gun with a decisive click. "But believe you me, kid, they sure got Target Alpha mad as all the Twisted Dimensions put together." His voice flattened. "Kin are going to die tonight."
"Which may be," Kenshin said, very softly, "precisely what was intended."
"Say what?" Tyler blurted.
The cool gaze flicked at him, weighing the fact that he was still listening; shrugged it off, and turned to Sano. "Sanosuke. None of those bodies is Misao."
Sano gaped. "But - Itachi-jou was in there, she wouldn't just run off-"
"And the lack of malevolent ki, even shielded… the wakizashi that is Jin-e, is not here."
White-faced, the agent couldn't even swear.
"Hooo boy…." Tyler gripped his knees, crouching so his hammering heart didn't have to work so hard to keep blood in his brain. It all seemed to want to drain down his spine, like a river of red ice. "It's got a new host?"
"No!" Yahiko's fists thudded against his brother's chest. "Not Misao! We've got to- got to-"
"He did not take her," Kenshin said swiftly. "I would sense that, Yahiko, he could not cloud that ravaging of ki- Jin-e did not take a host. Not here."
"Are you saying somebody deliberately picked that thing up and carried it off?" Sano gave Kenshin a look of pure, unadulterated disbelief.
"How did they do that?" Tyler said faintly.
"Well, I guess, if you kept the hilt wrapped and didn't cut yourself-" the agent started.
"No." Gulping back bile, Tyler straightened and looked toward the bloodstained hole in the wall; shuddered, and looked away. "Those bodies, the way they were… smeared…. That was Body Control, had to be. Which means - there was an Animate with them. And-" he gestured helplessly upward, where the sun shone down like molten gold.
Gold that should have seared any Animate to ash and dust.
"Good question," Kenshin breathed. One red brow quirked up at Sano, over a gaze suddenly alive with interest. "Bring him."
Sano nodded. "Gotcha."
Tyler backed up, feeling the world go inexplicably gray. No no no, we're not going back in there-!
Neurons took a vote, and plunged into unconsciousness.
---------
Ow.
Bracing himself against a steel wall of the blacked-out van as they snaked through traffic, Han'nya rubbed his cracked forehead, demon-mask looking down at a bound, gagged, and thoroughly unconscious kendo instructor with dazed disbelief.
We're lucky we took Kamiya off-guard when we went after Megumi. This woman is vicious!
No match for Aoshi's skill with a kodachi, most likely. Child of this gentler, modern age certainly. But with a wooden blade in her hands, and the utter certainty that her blows would not kill her opponents-
She'd attacked with all the ferocity of the samurai women of Aizu, stunning Shikijou, shattering Hyotokko's kneecap, and beating poor Beshimi to a bloody pulp.
All that within moments of their break-in. If the Okashira hadn't tagged her with a sleep-venomed dart, who knew what havoc she could have wreaked.
I doubt we'd have been able to take her alive. Feeling the shift in the van's vibrations that told him they were back in Manhattan's home streets, Han'nya let out a soft breath of relief. And Okashira's orders or not, I prefer not to have Battousai out for my blood!
Wrapping bandages over torn flesh, Beshimi snarled. "I say we Drain the bitch, and leave her bloodless corpse on Kanryuu's doorstep!"
"No," Han'nya said sharply. "Her life is precious to us, Beshimi. For now."
They could deal with a Battousai enraged; they were the Oniwabanshuu, they could handle one Kin assassin, if needs must. If Kanryuu's plan required it, and the Okashira did not yet see fit to sever their path from his - yes, they could handle even Battousai. Especially if the deadly assassin was caught between rage, and terror for the life he would know rested in their hands. A soul divided was weak. Unworthy of facing the ninja who would crush it utterly.
Though crush it they would. They were onmitsu; honor did not bind them. Only contracts, and duty to the clan.
A Battousai in blood-fury, convinced he had nothing left in this world to lose - no. That, Han'nya refused to face.
Even if Aoshi seemed tempted to do just that.
Han'nya stole a glance to the darkest corner of the van, where the Okashira slept, trenchcoat a snowy drift over himself and their little human kunoichi. Ubo might be strong as any vampire after sunset, but every move in the daylight hours was a constant struggle against sleep.
Which was precisely why Aoshi had chosen that time to make their assault.
Target Alpha had not survived the past eight decades among Kin by being stupid. They knew their enemies' Banes.
And the sun is lethal to... almost all of us.
Grinning toothily, Han'nya looked at the lead container imprisoning their prize. Even with metal and charms to bind it, the long tube seemed to pulse with hate.
How pleasant, that he'd already arranged to stand as guard when Kanryuu pulled the meteoric knife from Smythe's chest. He couldn't wait to see the look on that Sorcerer's face.
Promise Kanryuu weapons unmatched, will you? How fortunate for you to have the chance to live up to your word.
But all great magics demand sacrifice, Sorcerer. And I suspect what Jin-e will demand won't be anything you like, at all...
---------
Breathe. Remember to breathe.
Easy to think, Battousai thought wryly. Hard to do, when every layer of his steel seemed edged in icy fury. That someone would dare interfere with what was his...
Kenshin's patience was strained to rags and tatters, but it still reached out to him, protecting him from the instinctive impulse to cast planning aside and start on the hunt. A stupid impulse, he knew it - surely as he knew he could no more deny it than he could pluck out grains of his own steel.
:I'll hold,: Kenshin promised him as they shielded Yahiko's eyes, heading back inside on Sano's heels to try and piece together the Oniwabanshuu's deadly puzzle. Tyler was draped over Sanosuke's shoulder, blissfully unaware of still-smoldering fires, shattered walls, and unidentifiable bits of flesh and bone. :I promise I'll hold... oh god, so much blood...:
Hmm. For one born in modern times, it likely was a bit much. Remember Toba Fushimi.
:I wasn't at-:
But you remember. As I do. You were with me before; be with me still. This is no different from treating the wounded.
:I was choosing who would die!:
You were choosing who would live. We cannot save everyone, Kenshin. Old memories roused, bringing sorrow in their wake. No matter how much we might wish to.
:I don't want to be like this,: Kenshin whispered desperately. :I don't want to look at this - this horror, and not feel...:
Clamping down hurt and anger, the sword waited.
:But... it's what Kaoru-dono needs, isn't it,: Kenshin went on reluctantly. :If we're going to get her back, I need to think - and I can't think if I feel.:
A soul of ice will not save her! Battousai battled back his own fury, shuddering at the chill. I am too angry, you are too hurt; neither of us can face this evil alone. We must - try to balance. If we can.
For a moment he thought his bearer would lash out, deny the wound-
But hurt melted into misery pure as Yahiko's, washing away some of the deadly chill. :Misao loves him. How could he do this?:
I don't know, my own. I don't know... Battousai could not suppress a snarl. But I very much want to find out.
:Yes...:
An unsettling slipping feeling in his soul, as if two wind-battered trees had come to rest against each other, branches interweaving-
Steel and flesh. The cage of ribs, rising and falling with each breath; the cage of steel that was his saya, holding him back from bloody vengeance on whatever Kin might fall into his fury-chilled hands.
Startled, he moved to yield the body back to Kenshin-
:No!: Kenshin tempered that quick demand with a hint of sheepish surprise. :No, forgive... I'm right here. It's only - you took some of the weight, that's all. I'm still here, I just...:
Feel the sword as well? Battousai said softly. He could sense that weight of horror, tempered by his own memories of the battlefield. As he could smell burnt blood, and feel Yahiko's impatient push against Kenshin's chest.
A mental shrug. :I imagine it's as close to balanced as we can manage, that I do. Let's just take advantage of it while we can, yes?:
Yes, Battousai agreed thoughtfully, feeling his bearer's patience soak into him like sunlight. He was steel and death and magic. He was a legend even Kin feared.
He was behind Kenshin's eyes.
It felt oddly comfortable.
Breathe. Keep breathing...
We've a control team leader to rein in.
Uramura's ki surged and roiled with rage as the agent stalked the most intact lab, Stutler and Johnson dashing here and there to gather fragments of evidence, while Megumi taped a bandage on a dazed Holstein and Rachel Levinson spoke softly with the few still-standing survivors, coaxing out details of the attack. The water tank was shattered, the stock of wolfsbane tainted with cayenne, and a shapeless lump of black cloth smoldered in the wreck of what had been a Bunsen burner.
Battousai felt a sudden, amazed shock. Is that-
:Oh yes,: Kenshin replied with dark delight, thrusting Yahiko into Sano's startled grip before he snatched up cloth remnants and tossed them into a chemical hood. The rush of air fanned embers into a rush of flames, and a certain annoying scientist's ten-gallon hat crumbled into ash.
Wobbling away from Megumi, Holstein jerked around at the soft whoomph. "Hey!"
"Oro?" Kenshin blinked innocently.
"You- you-" Holstein sputtered. "Get him!"
Snared in rage and instinct, Uramura moved-
Kenshin sidestepped, drawing the sheathed sakabatou in one smooth move that laid lacquered steel against Uramura's carotid. :We've been bugged!:
Shock broke through the anger. Uramura squinted, shaking his head. "What-?"
Stepping deliberately closer, Kenshin reached out to touch his hand. :Show him.:
This is the nature of our enemy, Uramura...
Gray-clad ghosts in the night. Smiling geisha whose golden combs bore poison. The fruit-seller who'd been in the marketplace a dozen years, to leave his simple booth one night to ensure a crucial gate was unlatched-
We have little time. I do not ask your aid - I know what Target Alpha will require from you, in the wake of such devastation. I only ask that you listen...
A moment's whisper, and the control team leader stepped back, eyes wide behind his glasses. "How...?"
"Only ask yourself this, Uramura-san," Kenshin said evenly, returning sword and saya to his obi. "Do you believe me?"
"Kenshin?" Sano asked warily.
Uramura's jaw set. One hand lifted, signaled. Search. Ears.
Sano strangled a whistle as he set Tyler down, handed back a startled kid, and joined the search.
Yahiko gave his brother a doubtful glance, evidently gauging the flecks of amber in steel-blue. "What's-"
:Shh,: Kenshin cautioned, gripping his shoulder and subtly gesturing for Megumi to join them as Tyler groaned and muttered on the floor. :Our listeners may already be suspicious, but they don't know, not yet-:
Smash!
"Chikusho," Kenshin groaned, as Uramura's people gathered and shattered intricate circuits, outraged beyond rational thought at this further invasion. "Sano!"
"Got one," his partner reported, switching the little unit off and cupping it in one strong palm. "Damn it, if we just had Itachi-jou..."
"Likely that's one reason we don't," Kenshin sighed.
"One reason?" Uramura bit out, advancing on their tight knot of defiance. "If you know something, Himura..."
"There was a truck, wasn't there," groaned up from the floor by Kenshin's sandal. "There had to be a truck, I couldn't feel this bad and still be breathing if it wasn't..."
"Sorry, nothing that simple," Megumi said tartly. "I'm afraid you suffered a severe localized drop in blood pressure and oxygenation due to traumatic stress."
"English," Tyler muttered, rubbing still-closed eyes.
"You fainted."
"The heck!"
"Sad but true," Megumi smirked.
"Why are they here?" Uramura growled.
"First, do no harm," Megumi snapped back at him. "I'd think even you might be familiar with that one."
"Easy, easy..." Kenshin slid between the two of them, hands raised and empty. "Uramura-san. They've taken two of our people, and Kurogasa. We do not have time for wounded pride, that we don't."
"Two of our people?" Uramura raised a brow.
Battousai felt his hands trembling. Stilled them. "If you will hold Kamiya-sensei's life hostage to our behavior, Uramura, then yes, you will count her among ours." A familiar ki touched the edges of his senses, and he stifled an urge to let loose words he'd learned in the darkest back alleys of Kyoto. Kami, not her...
"What in god's name happened here?"
"Oh, great," Yahiko muttered, packing all a young teen's loathing into the words as he scooted out of Natasha Falconi's direct line-of-sight.
"Not a nice lady?" Tyler asked in an undertone, following the kid's lead.
Brown eyes rolled. "Does Godzilla like tuna?"
"Gotcha."
:Why is everyone trying to hide behind me?: Kenshin wondered wryly. :Sano would seem far more likely.:
Natasha isn't afraid of Sano, Battousai pointed out as the Sorceress bore down on Uramura like a white-lipped missile. Damn. She may be an ENO operative, but practically speaking, she outranks Uramura. If she decides to give orders - and she will-
:Trust him.:
You've far more faith in human nature than I do, my own. Battousai clenched and unclenched his claws. It's Kaoru's life on the line.
:I know.: Kenshin sighed. :But you know him... and I have to believe there's someone else besides Sano here we can trust.:
"How did this happen?" Natasha demanded. "We protected this place-"
"Found it, sir!" Stutler called from under a piece of machinery. Wriggled his way out into the room, brandishing a cased CD.
"Found what?" Holstein griped, ducking to look at the hole in the wall Stutler had opened. A hole that had all too obviously been designed into the building's very framework, years ago. "There's nothing under - you - you - it's not enough that they bugged my labs, you did it too!?!"
"Standard procedure for research facilities, I'm afraid," Natasha said dryly. "Ever since that Nevada incident... well."
The lab director's eyes were wide as saucers. "What Nevada incident?"
"Beyond your clearance level," the Sorceress shrugged. "Suffice it to say, have you ever pictured what might happen if someone accidentally opened a portal to Hell?"
Holstein gulped.
"Precisely."
Battousai tried not to snicker. Not too hard; humor was swamped by the burning need to see whatever that CD had gleaned.
:The more we know, the better,: Kenshin agreed. :But not too close. Natasha thinks us young, unschooled, redundant-:
And we wish her to keep thinking so.
"Holstein really didn't know?" Sano asked under his breath.
"Which makes it likely Misao did not, either," Kenshin answered, just as quietly. "For Kaoru-dono's sake, I hope so, that I do."
Sano bristled. "Itachi-jou wouldn't-"
"She is not here, Sano." Kenshin kept his voice low, watching Natasha's ki for any sign she was listening to them. For now, the Sorceress seemed content to watch Uramura's team analyze their CD on a laptop. As if she hadn't even seen them...
:She didn't, did she?: Kenshin asked, startled. :We didn't want her to see us-:
And we may have remained unseen, Battousai agreed. No telling how long it will last... your thoughts on Misao follow the same path as mine?
:It makes sense. No matter how much I hate it.: "Misao's mind is strong, hai," Kenshin said in an undertone. "Were she to clash wills with any other Kin, even Jin-e, I would not be surprised to find her the victor. But..."
"She loves Aoshi," Megumi said softly. "I only saw them together for a moment, but... she wasn't afraid. Not once she saw his eyes."
"And Aoshi is-?" Tyler muttered.
"Head honcho of the Oniwabanshuu, who seem to be working for Kanryuu," Sano filled in. "Ubo."
Tyler visibly added that up in his head, and started swearing softly.
Yahiko listened for a blink's worth of time, and turned a skeptical look on his brother. "He turns into a butterfly. So?"
"Ubo are very skilled at mesmerizing victims," Kenshin said levelly.
"...Oh." Yahiko shook his head, opened his mouth-
"Language, cub."
"Don't call me that-"
"Damn." Natasha's voice cut through their conversation like a knife. "Run that again."
Four split-screens of camera views rewound on a laptop monitor, played again; inside the labs, on the roof of the converted factory, outside-
As a nondescript gray van with blacked-out back windows and a tinted windshield pulled up almost against one wall.
:Oh!: Kenshin sucked in a short breath.
Clever, indeed, Battousai agreed grimly.
"No sun, no problem," Tyler was muttering, blinking. "Get in while you're in an underground parking garage, have somebody else drive you... why didn't I think of that..."
The driver, a tall, scarred man with more muscles than two of Sano put together, hopped out. Glanced for watchers, wary as a cat, then laid quick ribbons of something that chilled both sword and bearer to their core-
"That explains the wall," Uramura said grimly.
The blast was almost - almost - not a shock.
Uramura does know his explosives, Battousai observed wryly, as Kenshin shuddered. And moved to shield Yahiko's eyes, as the views switched more to inside the labs and the carnage began.
Sano was cursing under his breath, a slow stream of antique Japanese and modern New York profanity. "...If I'd just been here-"
"But you weren't," Megumi said; almost level, though her face was drained and pale. "None of us were. We can't change the past. No matter how much we want to," she added, half to herself.
"But we can take steps to ensure the past does not repeat," Kenshin replied, meeting her gaze. "Megumi-dono. Thank you. It cannot have been easy, coming here."
"I-" Megumi licked dry lips. "Kanryuu - he has to be stopped. He-" Her eyes widened. "Oh, no..."
"What?" Yahiko grumbled, trying to push off unmoving claws. "What's going on, let me see!"
Wincing, Kenshin released him. Watched with him, as the hidden cameras caught a birds-eye view of Misao standing in the darkened corridor, a white-clad Okashira cupping her cheek, bending to whisper to her...
And she walked out of that camera view, passing bodies and blood, reappearing on the outside view just long enough to get into the van.
"An inside job." Natasha's voice could have chilled nitrogen.
"Hey!"
Oh gods, teenagers...
"Don't you dare put this on Misao!" Yahiko slipped out of his grasp and jabbed a finger toward the Sorceress, face set and defiant. "Aoshi messed with her head. It could've been anybody!"
:Which is half the reason they're going to hate her for this,: Kenshin thought bleakly. :It could have been them - but they'll make themselves believe it couldn't.:
And I thought you had faith in humans, Battousai thought wryly.
:In Sano, Kaoru, Uramura - yes. Faith in humans? I'm a New Yorker.:
"You." Natasha's eyes flashed as they rested on Kenshin, then Megumi. She turned an angry look on Sanosuke. "That was Misao's Aoshi? The missing cousin she's been looking for all these years?"
"Um-" Sano backed up a step, hands half-raised in silent defense.
"You knew," Natasha stated, fingers twitching. Behind her, Uramura's team was reaching toward weapons, as the awful realization sank in. "You knew, and you reported nothing."
"Now, hang on-"
One hand lifted, falling into a shape of magic. "You are responsible for this."
Snk.
The room froze.
"Now that I have your attention," Battousai said wryly, thumb still holding the sakabatou loose in its saya. "I am the senior agent, by quite a few decades. Any fault in what was reported, or not, falls on me. Not Sanosuke." Amber eyes burned into green. "I believed her when she said he'd only ordered her to go home, as the honor of his family would have required. I should not have. I should have gone to her, checked her directly for any trace of Infection or Tags. But I had gravely injured charges to tend, and my bearer's brother to ward. I trusted Misao." One deliberate step forward. "If you mean to place blame rather than pursue our enemies, Natasha-san, place it correctly."
"Um, guys?" Yahiko muttered.
"Our enemies, sword of darkness?" A blonde brow went up.
"Damn right, our." Sano was at Kenshin's shoulder, cracking his knuckles. "When's 'Sai given you reason to think he's on the bad guys' side? Ever?"
"Guys! Scary lady! Hey!" Yahiko tugged on his gi, pointing toward the wall nearest the hole. "I think we've got bigger problems."
Kenshin reached out with his ki sense, and groaned. :Not them...:
---------
"Holy..."
Detective Bobby Goren shook his head as his partner gave up and just whistled at the extent of the carnage. And that about says it all.
Not what he'd expected to find at the tail end of a paper chase after a death under suspicious circumstances. Then again, he still wasn't sure this Silver Systems really did own a certain inferno-waiting-to-happen sweatshop in Chinatown, or if they'd just been used as a shell by some unscrupulous corporate lawyer. The paperwork was iffy, at best.
But given who was down as Silver Systems' owner, it was enough for a warrant. And if it hadn't been, this... abattoir... definitely would be.
"Who's in charge here?" Detective Alexandrea Eames demanded, grabbing the nearest hapless crime scene tech. Not one of the NYPD's Crime Scene Unit, which was damning all by itself. "Why weren't we called?"
"Because this is our mess, Detectives." The blonde they'd crossed verbal swords with early this morning stepped into plain view, leather jacket dotted here and there with drying blood. "And we'll clean it up ourselves, thank you very ruddy much."
Silver Systems got the DEA's attention, too? Interesting... "Well, that might be a little tricky," Goren half-smiled, left hand displaying their warrant. "Given as we need to see this company's financial records. Now."
"Don't play dueling jurisdictions with me, Detectives." Falconi's eyes were hard as jade. "You'll lose."
"To the DEA?" Goren allowed himself to look surprised. "I kind of think the judges will say this much blood outweighs any kind of drug charge."
Natasha only smiled.
You know, I think I've seen friendlier looks on sharks. The detective braced himself, determined not to flinch. He was Major Case Squad. He'd dealt with the blackest evil the city of New York could serve up. There was no way he'd back down from someone just suffering an excess of authority.
"Agent Sagara." Natasha's voice carried into the darkened building, a hard hand yanking on a steel leash. "I believe you and your partner are familiar with these officers? Do help them out. Uramura and I are going to be very busy."
"Hey, wait a minute-!"
"Do I need to make that an order?"
Sagara came out of the hole in the wall like a mad Doberman, fists clenched, toothpick standing straight out from his teeth. "Hell, yes! In case it slipped your mind-"
"Oh, do keep talking," Natasha all but purred. "After all, Makimachi was one of your close associates, yes? And, well, birds of a feather..." She shrugged.
"It wasn't her fault," Sanosuke said tightly.
"We don't know that, now, do we?" Not even a hint of a smile graced Natasha's face now. "All our evidence indicates that what happened could have been completely voluntary."
Voluntary? Goren traded a quick glance with his partner, caught Alex's sober nod. Whatever blew up here, this Makimachi - somebody else in the DEA, somebody Sagara knows - is in it up to her neck. Oh, this is not good.
"You know her better than that, Natasha-san."
And where there is Sagara, there is Himura, Goren thought, not surprised. At least, not until he caught a glimpse of the bloodstains dotting the little redhead's clothing. He was in this mess? And he's still standing? Not a shopkeeper anymore, not at all...
"An impressionable young woman whose boyfriend turns out to be one of those we're trying to arrest?" Fury glittered in jade eyes. "No, I don't think I know her at all." Turning on her heel, Falconi stomped into the controlled chaos.
This is going to be a very interesting story, Goren thought. Let's see; if Sagara and Himura are here, then - ah. That short shape with mussed hair hanging back in the shadows was undoubtedly Yahiko, and the tall elegance behind him had to be Megumi Takani, though from those bloodstains... She was helping the paramedics?
Not just her, Goren realized, reevaluating what he could see of the DEA-associated bunch. They all were. Which means - ha! Falconi wasn't first on the scene! He had to hide a grin. And you just gave them to us? You may know drug investigation, but when it comes to homicide, you are definitely out of your league.
Which was a worrying thought all by itself. Captain's got to know about this. Soon.
"And just where are you going, sir?" Smiling politely, Eames caught a brown-haired man in his thirties trying to creep out of sight.
"Um..."
"Tyler, Detectives Goren and Eames," Sano said, resigned. "Detectives, Tyler...?"
"Darrow," the guy in fashionable but somewhat stained club grunge sighed. "Hi."
"You know, that's interesting," Goren observed, taking out his notebook. "I kind of know why they're here, Mr. Darrow-"
"You, ah, do?"
Yes, very interesting. "-But why are you here?" Goren went on, not missing a beat.
Tyler's mouth hung open a second; he swallowed, and smiled weakly. "Overactive curiosity. I used to be a reporter, and when Kenshin got, um, paged that was something was wrong, and it was cut off-" He shrugged.
"And Ms. Takani's here because you two are looking after her," Alex's smile could have cut glass, "and Yahiko's here because - well, it seems you think it's safer to bring him into a catastrophe like this than leave him at home."
"Kind of makes me wonder who's after you," Goren observed, tapping his pencil with his thumb. "And... well," he nodded toward the blasted wall, "did they miss?"
For a long second, steel-blue eyes stared at them, stunned-
Then Kenshin shuddered, and violet jerked down, wide and desperate. "That wasn't... I didn't... Sano, we don't have time-"
"Any idea where?" Sano muttered.
"No. Not yet. I-" Violet glanced at the listening detectives, and Kenshin stopped talking.
"Any idea where what?" Alex pounced. "What happened here?"
Sano's mouth pressed into a hard line as he looked back at thinning smoke; then he muttered something rude and shook his head. "Kanryuu."
"Who has part ownership in the stock of Silver Systems," Goren noted.
"Say what?" Sano spit out his toothpick. "That's crazy! There isn't any stock-"
"Because it's a DEA front?" Alex smiled, chill and amused. "Funny. That's not what the corporate paperwork says."
Darrow twitched, Goren thought, keeping a subtle eye on the ex-reporter. Why? Did he not know he was dealing with a DEA agent? I grant you it's weird that Himura seems to have gotten scooped up into the agency whether he wants to or not...
"Kanryuu?" Sagara snarled. "Let me see that-"
Darrow's twitchy, Yahiko's confused, Takani's out-and-out furious, and Himura- Goren snuck a more intent look as Alex let Sagara snatch their paperwork. Himura is thinking.
Oh, this is going to be fun to watch.
"That... bastard," Sagara bit out, flipping through pages. "That goddamned frippery drug-dealing homicidal - how the hell did he - oh, no way!" A stiff finger jabbed one page. "There is no way we own that building, damn it!"
"Are you certain?" Kenshin's voice was level, quiet.
Sagara snorted. "I know you weren't keeping track of the address, Kenshin, but you brought home enough of the roof-" He winced, and shut up.
"Roof?" Alex said under her breath.
Acting before his nerves could talk him out of it, Goren darted forward to snatch at long red hair.
"Itai!"
Wow, he's fast! But a flame-hued strand lingered in Goren's grasp, regardless. "I thought this looked familiar." He gave Himura a serious look. "Li Chi kept what you lost back there, you know. She said dragon's gifts bring luck. Yours seems to have brought a lot; that place could have burned down any time. And as for the people working there..." He shook his head. "Coroner's still working on the body from the basement. No cause of death yet, but I kind of doubt a teenage girl crawled down there to die."
"Body?" Yahiko said faintly.
Himura swallowed. "I was not in the basement, that I wasn't."
"The lab will tell us that." Alex crossed her arms. "But you were there."
"On your way to... pick up Ms. Takani," Goren said pleasantly. Turned a mild look on the lady in question. "From her old acquaintances."
Delicate fingers curled into fists.
"While about the same time, at your shop, Agent Falconi's people were attacked by person or persons unknown," Goren went on.
"Must have been a busy night," Alex said dryly.
"And here you are again," Goren shrugged, "serious assaults, possible homicides - and Kanryuu's name hidden in the paperwork tying this all together."
"I think we should take this downtown," Alex finished.
"What?" Yahiko yelped. "No way! You- mmph!"
Hand still over the teen's mouth, Sagara gave them a sour grin. "Sure. Why not? I love One Police Plaza in the evening. Don't you?" Shooing off the kid, the agent slanted a wry glance Darrow's way. "You meet such interesting people."
Wait a minute, he's stalling... Goren blinked, and whirled. "Hey!"
Caught yards away in broad daylight with a little brother tucked under his arm, Kenshin gave the detective an innocent smile. "Oro?"
"What- how did-" Alex sputtered.
"Forgive the inconvenience," the redhead bowed, "but there is much to be done, and very little time." His red shirt seemed to flicker, drawing shadows-
And he was gone.
---------
Ow.
Consciousness seemed wrapped in a thick gray blanket, but the soreness of her neck made Kaoru wrinkle up her nose, trying a tentative shake of head to work out sleep-kinks-
Ow!
Kaoru tried to slap what had to be the great-grandmother of all mosquito bites, only to find her hand landing limp and sluggish on her shoulder.
Oh great, somebody spiked my drink! If I find out who, they're dead-
Wait. I wasn't drinking.
So... why is everything so foggy?
Squinting closed eyes, Kaoru rewound the last things she could remember. Silver Systems, Holstein, Misao's out-of-the-blue comment on rings-
Then the lights had gone out.
Literally, Kaoru thought wryly. There was some kind of - smell of cat fur, and roaring. She wriggled her hands a little, feeling an odd constriction around her wrists, and under that, a familiar soreness in arms and shoulders. I hit something. A lot of somethings. And then-
Blank.
Wrists tied up, legs so numb I can't tell if they're tied or not, and the rest of me is about as ready to go as a limp noodle, Kaoru calculated. I think we can say whatever happened in that blank was not good.
No more smell of cat fur here, though. Furniture polish. A little hint of cigar smoke. A musty taste to the air that told of leather-bound tomes, meant to impress rather than be read.
And there was a weird, almost subliminal hum in the air, rising and falling with all the unsettling weight of a Gregorian chant.
"Pretending won't do you any good."
I know that voice. Kaoru cracked one eye open. Tears blurred her vision, but even in the dim light of this small study she could make out cat-slit eyes and venom-dark claws. That, is a bad guy. Can I go home now?
And what is that noise?
Polished wood spun in the Rakshasa's grasp as he smirked. "You want this, don't you?"
Beshimi, right, that's who Kenshin said he was. Kaoru rolled her eyes. Get over yourself, she tried to say. "Gelumph."
Great. Whatever they've drugged me with, I can't talk straight, either. Ooo, I could just spit!
A flutter of white caught her eye, and Kaoru strained a blurry gaze toward the corner behind her right shoulder. Most of her view was blocked by the overstuffed leather chair someone had dropped her into, but over polished black, if she strained her eyes down-
Misao was curled on a futon, braid trailing down her cheek, breath dimpling the ice-white comforter someone had tucked in around her.
She's okay! Kaoru let out a relieved breath, before adding Misao and not tied up and coming to a sum that had nothing like okay in it. She looks like - like Beauty waiting for the Beast, or Lucy Westenra asleep... oough, and Ubo are vampires- "Gmph!"
Claws pricked their way over her cheek. "The Okashira won't like it if you disturb her," Beshimi breathed in her ear. "So-"
Eek! That tickles!
Clunk.
Spots flashing across her vision, Kaoru had the dubious satisfaction of hearing Beshimi's groan through her ringing ears. Dad always did say I had a head like a rock, she mused.
A door thumped open, and a faint scent of cat fur wafted into the room. "Hey, Beshimi, Han'nya wants - what the hell happened to you?"
Beshimi snarled something incomprehensible. "That little-"
"Hey, hey! Voice down." The most muscular, scarred man Kaoru had ever seen in her life stepped softly over to the futon, just watching Misao breathe. "Don't get a new clan member every day, you know."
"Nnn!" I won't let you!
The tender look slipped off the scarred face, replaced by a hardness that chilled Kaoru to the marrow. "Don't think you have anything to say about it," he said flatly, stalking over to her like a panther. "She's a Makimachi. Okashira wants her, he gets her."
No, Kaoru thought dizzily, not like a panther. Like a tiger; I remember the roars...
But she swallowed her fear, and raised her aching head. "Have to... go through me first," she managed thickly.
"Don't think that'll be a problem," the were-tiger snorted. Looked her up and down, and smirked. "Though it looks like even tied up and drugged, you're too much for short stuff, here."
"Shikijou-!"
Keep your gaze on a predator, you're challenging it, this is a bad idea... the heck with it. Kaoru gathered her courage, and locked blue eyes on feral brown. "I don't care how much bad news you think you are, or how evil Kanryuu thinks he is. Jin-e was worse. Kenshin stopped him."
"Funny you should mention that." Shikijou cocked an ear toward the chant as it seemed to crescendo, then-
Steel, ringing like a bell, louder and louder and screaming-
Silence.
"What do you think?" Beshimi muttered.
"Think we ought to see if Han'nya needs a hand with what's left of Smythe." A massive hand picked Kaoru up by her belt, and fangs glittered in his grin. "Besides... I bet somebody's just dying to meet you again."
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Translations and info:
Chikusho - "Damn it"; beastly.
Clean and floss - cover up a death caused by supernatural means, make it look normal.
Kinsucker - Stake term for Crowleys, or others who associate with Kin.
Kunoichi - female ninja.