Caged

Kaoru stood stock still as she assessed the rigidness of the two men standing in front of her. Saitō was his usual self, grim and steady in his stance. It was Kenshin's expression that made her wince. His face was a stone mask but his eyes held a mass of confusion and anger.

"Kaoru-dono, we know…" Before Kenshin could even finish, Saitō put a hand up to his chest and pushed him back to tell him to back down. He took a long drag of is shortened cigarette before flicking it to the ground and stepping on it to put it out. He held is katana by the hilt and stepped forward.

"Kamiya Kaoru, you are under arrest for breaking and entering, theft and 2nd degree murder. Please drop your load and put your hands up into the air so we can see you are unarmed." Kaoru looked at Saitō numbly, not responding to him in the slightest.

Her eyes darted around the area and she contemplated for a few moments whether she had enough space in between them and time to get away. She knew by now that her skills enabled her to do so. She could get away from both of these legendary men if it was worth it. Saitō took another step in her direction, his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword menacingly.

"Be smart, Kamiya-san. The best choice for you right now is to give up. We now know that it is you running around as Neko-onna. Even if you did escape, we now have every exit to the city blocked off and the borders are being patrolled. Drawing up on this now would be most unwise."

"I could get away…" She told Saitō as she felt her resistance slip away. The clothes slipped from her arms and landed in a heap at her feet, her arms and hands rising slowly to let them know she was doing as instructed. She let out a shallow sigh, not noticing that she had been holding her breathe since she had walked into the vicinity. She felt as two more officers took her back, blocking off the entrance.

"I have no doubt in my mind that you could, Kamiya-san. I'm sure you could slip past both me and the Battousai with ease as you are now…" She dropped her head and closed her eyes in pain. She didn't want to get away from Kenshin. She had been through so much with this man; she wanted to tell him that it wasn't her. She would never kill anyone. "…if you truly wanted too, that is."

"If I truly wanted…" She tipped her head just enough so her gaze could slide over to Kenshin. His whole façade had gone stone cold. His eyes and face the cold mask of Battousai. Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears as the two officers took her by the wrists and tied them behind her back.

She wouldn't cry in front of him again. Even though she wanted to, she still had a deep sense of pride she couldn't shake anymore. Cat woman was thoroughly apart of her. She dropped her head again and stumbled backwards as the men led her to the police carriage in the street. The neighbors all stopped walking, their heads turning to one another and gossiping at once, as Kaoru was slowly put into the carriage and the door was shut on her. She felt a tear slid down her cheek, once she was out of sight from Kenshin and Saitō.

"Take her to the precinct."

Kaoru sat in the cold room, used for interrogating the criminals and other murders that Japan had cast out of society. It had been a couple of hours since she was brought into the precinct. They had quickly led her back here upon entering the building. They had past the young officer, Shinichi-san, on the way; the man only gaped in astonishment when he realized she was under arrest.

She had been sitting there for a couple of hours now. The chief came in earlier, questioning her about the two murders and what her motive was. When he got no response from her, he quickly left and Saitō took his place. His questions were harsher and less emotional then the chief's but Kaoru remained silent through the whole thing.

She knew that she should try and tell them the truth but knew that it would serve no good. They wouldn't even begin to understand what had happened to her, she barely did herself the first time she read that letter. As for Akori and her schemes, she didn't know how to even begin explaining that. She wasn't politically active and she didn't know all the information. After an hour without eliciting any emotion or answer from Kaoru, Saitō gave out an explicit word and left the room.

That had been a couple of hours ago and she now stared out the desolate gray room. The droll room had been made out of the foreign rock stone they now insisted on making buildings out of. She felt the anger and frustration bubble up from earlier. She had trusted Nomane-san to lead justice. That trust just led to the demise of Neko-onna. She had been foolishly led on and her pride hadn't let her see past her competitor, Roku-san. He had been a rude, sexist man but she realized that he would never have killed her.

Her thoughts wandered back to Kenshin at the porch. His emotionless face had been burned into her memory. His eyes had still held uncertainty but the famed features of Battousai had taken the place of her kind rurouni. That look was to stick fear into his enemies. She can only imagine she was an enemy now, in Kenshin's eyes.

Tears started to pour from her face again at the thought of never hearing Kenshin again. She had tried to remain calm thorough her ride to the police station, but it ended up being hell. By the time they reached their destination, her eyes where red and puffy from sobbing and her nose had run out, getting all over her face. With her hands tied behind her, she wasn't able to wipe any of it away.

What was even worse was they never let her clean up before untying her in the cell. She had frantically tried to rub it all away with the coarse material of the Kimono, rubbing her face raw and chapped. The new tears stung her face and she tried to smooth them away with her hands.

She heard the door open and let out a soft hiccup as she tried to stop the flow of any more tears. She felt the pride catch the emotions and she slowly became silently again. She put a hand up to hide her face to hide her self and listened as the man came up to her side. She saw a small hand slide a handkerchief in her direction then stood silently, waiting for her to clean up. She let out a harsh thanks and dabbed her face gently.

After she was done she moved the hair out of her face and looked up, surprised to see Kenshin standing in front of her. He watched her intently before sitting across from her in the other seat. She watched his face just as intently. The mask of Battousai was gone, his whole demeanor showing grief and anger.

"Saitō asked me to take his place in questioning you. He believes that you will talk to me where you won't with them." Kenshin said, watching as Kaoru's face switched to from confusion to unease. "I really don't want to play games, Kaoru. I want to know everything that has been happening since I have been gone from the dojo."

Kaoru sat there unsteadily, gazing at Kenshin sadly. She shook her head and turned her head to the side. "You wouldn't understand, Kenshin. Neither would Saitō or Chief Uramura."

"Just tell me. Whatever happened to you, we can figure this out together. You haven't been the same since the attack you had. And you can't deny it, it's not just your attitude but your ki itself has changed drastically." He sat there and waited for Kaoru to deny it. He wouldn't put it past her, the new ki was even stronger then before.

"All right Kenshin. I tell you everything." Kenshin face went slack. She started to explain the events that enfolded. The day she met Akori-san and when she went to return the letter that led to the attack. She told him about the deception that woman was playing. She left out her death, knowing that Kenshin wouldn't believe a word of her story if she told him. "That student must have been another one of her messengers. He must have wanted to stop her plans and she killed him. Her husband, Roku, found out and she killed him too."

"You have to believe me Kenshin. I would never kill anyone, no matter how mad I was. You have to believe me!"

"I can't read you at all. And the evidence, all the evidence points to you. We can't…"

"Forget the evidence Kenshin!" Kaoru slammed her hands on the table and Kenshin sat back. "Do you remember the day you stayed at my house? The first bath you heated for me, when Suzume-chan told you I was crying, you immediately thought I was suicidal. All the evidence you had gathered in those short hours led you to believe I had given up all hope."

"That was different."

"No it wasn't Kenshin! Then, and now, you listened to brain instead of your heart and reacted wrongly. You have to trust me Kenshin; I'm not the enemy here."

"I don't know if I can trust you, Kaoru. I don't know you anymore."

"I am the same girl that has been with you for the past year. I just have more confidence in myself." Kenshin shook his head and stood up in impatience, not wanting to be in the room anymore. Tears slipped out of Kaoru's eyes, down her cheek. "Please, believe me?"

"I can't. I'm sorry." He walked past Kaoru and left the room. He heard Kaoru start to cry again and looked at the floor as he closed the heavy cell door and locked it.

The police officer led her quickly to a wooden cell at the end of the hall, roughly threw her in and closed the wooden barred door. He banged on the door to get her to step away. "Be a good little kitty now."

Kaoru gave out a coarse cry, sounding as a hiss, and the officer backed away and walked off in a hurry. She quickly went to the back of the cell, hitting the wall with her back and sliding down to sit down. She looked up at the now night sky through her window and gave out a sigh. She should have known Kenshin wouldn't believe her. The evidence was pretty solid against her.

She hears a soft meow and looked back up to the window. The Egyptain Mau was standing right outside her window, its head tipping to the side as it watched her curl up in a ball. She watched as it then started pushing its body through the tight and narrow bars of the tiny window. After it finally got through, it jumped down to where Kaoru sat, staring at the cat as if it was a miracle.

"You are special; no bonds or limits in your society are put on you. Live freely and be who you are, and you will not be caged by any matter…"The letter that Katsu gave her came back in to her mind as she stroked the cat's fur. She looked back out of the wind, thinking at how the cat got in the cell. She then looked over to her own cell door. She was skinny enough if she sucked it in a bit.

Stood up and walked over to the door. She was tired of being confined to one title, one place and now in this cell, she thought it was about time she changed that. This wasn't about her anymore but the rest of the country as well. If Akori went through with her plans, Japan would be vulnerable to the stronger countries out there.

"Well, kitty, it would have been much easier if you had just gotten the key from down the hall but I guess I'll just have to make do." She slid her arm through the bars then quickly struggled with her shoulder, then her face and chest came next, then the last shoulder popped out and she slid gracefully away from the door with a proud look on her face. "Nothing can keep me caged. Not again."

She ran quietly to the edge of the hallway and then peered around it. After seeing no one there, she ran to a window that was looking out the back on the police precinct. The cells where held on the second floor of the building and the jump was pretty high. After watching a police officer walk by below, she quickly turned her head to the sound of voices coming from the second hall. With quick agility, she pushed herself of the ledge. Her body twisted in the air until she landed noiselessly on the dirt path on her feet and hands.

"Sorry Kenshin, but you just aren't worth the country at this point."