AN- This is still a short chapter, so I apologize. But, it is a cliffhanger, so I will work hard on the next chapter. See bottom for part two.

CHAPTER TEN

SURGICAL STRIKE

An alarm blared, and Kaoru jumped up out of her bunk, joining all the other women in the barracks, grabbing one of her bokken. It had been several weeks since her arrival, and she was finally completely healed, though Kenshin wasn't so lucky. He had suffered slight injuries while protecting some refugees during the last skirmish, and was still in the hospital. And she had adapted to base-life as rapidly as she could. MREs as food, public showers, rationed water, nearly constant threat, these were all things she was used to now.

And she had made sure to avoid Himura-san after what had happened in the hospital. How could she not? No one had ever made her feel so hot and bothered before! It was, in its own right, intoxicating. That did indeed scare her, but Kenshin had only been kind to her since he had first met her, so why should she be afraid? It was all very confusing.

As she moved with the rest of the ladies to a reinforced bunker, she thought she saw a flash of red as a flare went off over the base, but when she turned to see what it was, it turned out to be a pair of men supporting a heavily wounded man back to the MASH. She chuckled humorlessly. Not even the sight of blood and gore sickened her anymore. Nor did the sound of gunfire, which was thick in the air, scare her anymore.

She clutched her bokken closer as an artillery shell landed towards the middle of the base. No matter how many times the Wolf went out and destroyed their artillery pieces, they always had more. She nodded to the two fully armed guards standing sentry and entered the shelter, unaware of the danger that was approaching her rapidly.

400 ft. above ground level, 0200 hours, Juppongatana strike team:

Seta Soujiro looked over the base that lay sprawled below him, the tracers and explosions bright green spots as seen through his NVGs. He paid particular attention to the women of the base heading into a bunker.

"Target identified," he chirped cheerfully into his radio. "Initiating raid." He and the other Juppongatana continued floating downwards, their black gear and black parachutes making them virtually invisible in the evening sky. As the last handful of women and children entered the bunker and the door shut, he checked his altimeter. Eight hundred feet above sea level, so about one hundred more feet to go until he reached the base. "You guys know the plan. Anji, you take Senkaku and retrieve Sagara Megumi from the hospital, everyone else on me as we take the bunker. Copy?" Everyone sounded their confirmation.

Once they were only fifty feet above the ground, Soujiro took his silenced MP5 and easily killed the two guards, both shots hitting each one in the face. They all landed within seconds of each other, and they all leapt into action, Anji and Senkaku running off towards the hospital. Chou looked towards Soujiro, and the young assassin could almost sense the indecision in the tall 'broom-head'. "Y'all think that our informant is tellin' the truth about this here base?"

"He has too," Soujiro answered in a chipper voice. "He knows the price of betrayal." He unsheathed the katana at his side. "Let's go."

Kenshin's POV:

He sat in his hospital bed, remembering his several days out, as the Americans called it, in 'Indian Territory'. But the one thing he remembered even more then those horrible days was his one single moment with Kaoru.

When he had first felt her touches against him, he had instantly reacted, roused from unconsciousness into action in a thousandth of a second. But…instead of an enemy, it was Kaoru. He didn't really mean to kiss her, it just happened on its own. He knew that he would never forget the feeling of her hot body against his own. It was a feeling that he would gladly experience again.

The sudden sound of glass breaking caught his attention, as it was much closer then the sounds of gunfire and explosions on the perimeter. Immediately, as though by magic, his katana appeared in his hands. Upon hearing screaming, he was out the door, katana loosened in its sheath. The sound of suppressed gunfire came to his ears, and he sprang into action.

Within seconds he was out the door, hand ready to draw his sword in a Battojutsu strike. He heard a crash below him, as well as more screaming, only this time from a voice he knew. Megumi.

Okay, breathe. You are right on the second floor, right above the entrance. It would be easier to…

He spun around, and leapt towards the window, drawing his sword and letting it flash out twice. The glass broke cleanly, and he crashed through the window smoothly. Spotting two men running out of the hospital, one carrying Megumi, Kenshin immediately targeted the other one. The one with the odd, cone-shaped head… "Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu…Ryutsuisen!"

At the bunker:

Soujiro looked over all the frightened faces staring at him. "Which amongst you are named Kaoru Kamiya, Makimachi Misao, and Saitō Tokio?" It didn't matter if he asked, or didn't ask. He already had pictures of them, and had memorized their faces. Now, all they had to do was collect…

AN...again- okay, who do you think the informant is? Think about all spies, traitors, and betrayals in the series and/or the OVAs. It is a Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X character, just so you know. I want to see who you guys think it is. Is it I'izuka, Aoshi, Saitō, or someone else? Answer is coming next chapter!