Sano stopped at the entrance of the Fallen Blossom and gnawed on the fishbone in his mouth. Its quiet flickering lanterns a sharp contrast to the loud laughter and voices from inside. He didn't make it two steps inside before a bulky man blocked his path.
"What's up with you?" He asked, crossing his arms.
"I've never seen you 'round here." The guard said, mirroring his position. "And you certainly don't look like you've got the money to be here." He cracked his knuckles.
"Woah, chill out man, I'm here to meet with someone." He said, raising his arms.
"Name?" The guard snarled, stepping forward, so they were practically nose to nose.
"What's it to ya?" He smirked, moving the fish bone to the other side of his mouth.
The guard narrowed his eyes. "Tone it with the attitude."
Sano shrugged, twirling the bone. "So, ya gonna let me in, or am I gonna have ta fight my way inside?"
"Let him through, he's with me" Azamuku smiled, walking up to them, two women wrapped around his arms.
"Azamuku! Just the man I wanted to see!" Sano exclaimed. He looked back at the guard, "You heard him, move it boulder."
He shoved past him, as the guard begrudgingly stepped back.
"I'm glad you could meet me Sano." Azamuku smiled, "I've already reserved us a room upstairs."
"Perfect," he said, smacking him on the back. "Let's go."
Azamuku led them up the stairs, and into a room. It held a table, and several cushions. A jug of sake was already on the table, along with some cups.
Azamuku took a seat, and one of the women poured him sake.
"take a seat, Sano," Azamuku urged.
"I'd rather stand."
Azamuku shrugged. "suit yourself."
"Would you like us to invite a geisha?" the other woman asked, leaning on Azamuku's chest.
"That won't be necessary," He said, taking the fishbone out of his mouth, and tossing it to the ground
Azamuku frowned, lifting the sake cup. "How so?"
It never made it to his mouth, Sano's fist made it there first.
The woman on his chest let out a small scream as Azamuku was flung away from her.
"What the hell!" Azamuku cursed, sitting up with his elbows. "Why'd you do that!"
"You've got nothing to say." He growled, walking up to him, and lifting him by the shirt. "You've got some nerve, don't you?"
"Wha-what are you talking about!" Azamuku yelled, lifting his hands to block his face.
"I agreed to your little 'work offer' because you seemed like a good lead to the drugs, but man you really messed up this time," He spat.
He dropped him and stepped back.
He reached down and grabbed his leg. Dragging him around, he threw him at the table.
It flipped over. The sake clattered on the ground.
The women yelped, as they huddle in a corner. He shook his head to the door.
"Get out of here, you won't wanna see this."
He didn't have to tell them twice, as they both scrambled out of the room.
He picked up the sake bottle and poured it back. Only a small trickle came out.
"What a waste of good sake," he groaned.
Throwing it back on the ground, he reached back down for Azamuku.
He crouched down and brought him up to his face. His breath probably stank in his face, but he didn't care two yen about it.
"You can mess with me all you want, but no one," he whispered through gritted teeth, and brought him closer. "No one messes with my friends!"
He reared back his fist and punched.
Azamuku's nose bled, and is eyes rolled back.
He grabbed him by the hair and stood up.
Azamuku meekly clawed at his arm.
"Especially with Jou-chan or Megumi you hear?" He yelled, throwing another punch at him.
Azamuku formed a bloody grin as he let out a weak chuckle. His hands fell down at his sides.
"You really care about them, don't you? I'm quite surprised it was so easy to get you to talk about them."
"What are you talking about," he growled, clenching his fist again. "I never told you anything."
"Didn't you? I distinctly remember you being very chatty the night we met. You held nothing back and told me everything from how little miss Kamiya was believed to be dead, to how you head undying feelings for Takani Megumi. Or what was it you called her?" He frowned. "Ah yes, your fox-lady."
He slammed him against a pillar. Shoving his arm onto his chest, he reared back his fist again.
"Who told you that, cause I sure as hell didn't!"
"Well of course you didn't, not even your drunk self would confess to anything, that's why I was forced to slip a little something in with the alcohol. Get you to trust me a bit more."
Sano stood back up straight, dropping him in the process. "You bastard! You tried to poison me!"
Azamuku rolled his eyes, shaking a bit of dust off his shoulder. "Oh don't be so dramatic, I just put a little of my special drug, to get you to loosen up a bit."
Sano growled, and bent down to grab his shirt again.
"And loosen your lips you did, you told me everything, including the location of your dearest Megumi, and what hours the clinic was less occupied."
"Now you listen, I don't want you anywhere near her you hear!" Sano yelled, slamming him back down on the ground.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, she agreed to work for me as well, like it or not."
"You manipulated her! Even more so than me!" He cursed at him, and kicked him, before throwing him through the thin walls. Thankfully, the room next door was vacant.
"You not only pester her about her past, but you threaten to harm Kaoru? You are an absolute idiot, if you think you can mess with either of them!"
He walked up to him and crouched down. Reaching down, he slapped him lightly on the face.
"Now don't you pass out on me yet, I'm not done with you, you hear?"
"Oh, I believe you are."
He turned around. "Saito? What're you doing here, you're supposed to be with Kenshin right now!"
"I'm here because childish delinquents like you don't know how to leave matters to the people who actually use their brains. And instead, you create more work for me to clean up. You do realize I'm going to have to arrest you right?"
Sano dropped Azamuku and stood up. "Me?" He yelled. "Take him! He's the real culprit here! Threatening Megumi and hiring someone to go after Jou-chan!"
"Do you have any proof of that?"
"Well, no but-"
"All I see here, is that some delinquent kid assaulted a merchant unprovoked, this is all the proof I need right here."
He gaped. "I thought you were on our side!"
Saito strode up to him, and turned him around, tying his wrists.
"Stop. Messing. With. My. Leads." He growled and pulled him towards the exit.
Saito stopped at the door and looked back at a groaning Azamuku. He rolled his eyes and walked off, dragging him along.
They stopped again at the entrance, where the business owner stood, wide eyed.
"Get the guy a medic," Saito told her, "or don't." He shrugged and shoved him out the door.
"Better for everyone if he dies anyways," Saito muttered.
X
Kenshin let Saito in, he sauntered in, cigarette in his mouth.
"Sano should be here any minute," he said.
"That rooster-head is currently in jail."
"What?"
"I arrested him for obstructing justice and getting in my way. Any leads I had tonight are gone thanks to him."
"What?"
"I see you are just as idiotic as him, seeing that, that is the only word you can muster. I'll put it simpler for you. The stupid rooster head you call your friend decided to get in a fight and ruin any leads I had found tonight."
He frowned, "but why did you do it? I thought you wanted his help."
Saito huffed, and took another drag. "Why would I need that idiot's help? I asked for you to accompany me on that night, not him. I trust you enough to know you won't screw things up like he would." He shrugged, "let him learn his lesson, besides it's not the first time he's been locked up, is it? He'll be fine. Unless you want to pay his bail fee?"
He remained silent, as Saito took out a paper from his pocket.
Whilst Saito unfolded it, he lit a lantern and set in on the ground, next to the paper.
Laid out, it was easy to make out the mapped area of the northern docks.
"This is where the kid of yours told you correct?" Saito asked, straightening the paper.
"Yes, Yahiko said he overheard them say the north docks"
He watched as Saito took another drag and stomped out the cigarette on the ground. He could already imagine Kaoru yelling at Saito for making a mess in her house, not to mention it's potential fire hazard.
After making sure it was cooled off enough, he reached down and picked it up.
Saito snorted.
"Don't want to get scolded by your woman?"
He sighed, and palmed it, intending to throw it away later. "She is not my woman."
"Maybe not, but she is something."
He looked up at him.
"Are we here to discuss about Kaoru-dono, or the shipments?"
Saito grinned, it took on an eerie glint under the moonlight, and looked back at the map.
"The ship will probably come in through here," he trailed his finger on the map. "I don't know how many will be there, but probably more than three I'd say. And assuming they aren't stupid, they will probably have hire one or two cups to act as their "inspectors" Ideally, I would like to catch them in the act, right as they have finished unloading everything for us, but just before the ship departs. Their boss may or may not be there, but I think with the lackeys we catch and the shipments we confiscate should be enough evidence to pin that fool in jail and stop this mess."
"It's best we hide in separate places, that way they can't catch us both."
Saito nodded, and pointed to several spots. "These would be good places."
Saito snorted, "assuming they would already be hiding lackeys there, it's best to use these ones." He continued, pointing to different spots on the map. "We need to be ready to strike, and your spots don't provide that"
"These ones hold the best view, without revealing us." He pointed to a spot. "particularly this one, the boulders make a nice crevice to peek through without giving us away."
Saito shook his head and pointed at the map again. "The trees provide the best coverage, whilst still versatile enough, for when battle comes."
"How will we know when to "strike" if we can't even see the docking are properly. This is the best spot."
"Until you're spotted and have limited movement because you chose that spot. The trees are where we should be at."
"Why don't you hide there, and I'll hide here. We need to be separated anyways."
"And take orders from you? No, we both hide in the trees and that is final. You'll be on that side, and I'll be on this one"
He sighed.
"Is that all we had to go over through?"
"I suppose, unless you have any new leads."
He shook his head.
Saito exhaled, and took out a new cigarette.
"I'll leave the map with you. I'm off to clean up the mess that foolish friend of yours made, hopefully there were no casualties."
"Good night Saito." He said, when he was at the gate.
He looked back; cigarette lit in his mouth. "That kid better be telling the truth and not messing around. I can't afford to be wasting my time" He turned back around. "And tell your friends to stop eavesdropping on private conversations."
Saito shut the gate behind him. And as he turned around, he saw the shoji door by where they had been standing shut quickly.
He sighed and smiled lightly. Picking up the map and lantern, he headed to his room.
X
Kaoru woke up with a sharp pain in her stomach. She sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"I knew I shouldn't have drunk all that tea," she whispered to herself.
Groaning, she pulled herself out of the futon, and headed to the outhouse.
Finished with her business, she walked out tying her yukata. The sky was beginning to lighten up, but that was the only sign the sun showed. She yawned, figuring she could get about a couple more hours of sleep before she had to go to Maekawa's dojo.
A bird flew overhead, and she looked up to trail it. As it flew over the roof, her eyes landed on a lone figure. A person appeared to be sitting up there, with their back to her. Thinking quickly, she crouched down, and rushed to her room for her bokken.
How had she missed them when she walked outside?
She slid the shoji open as quietly as possible.
Megumi lay inside her room, breathing slowly, and unaware of the danger that sat over them.
Where they here for her?
She snatched up her weapon, there was no way she was going to let anyone hurt her. She looked back at her, even in her sleep she looked graceful and refined. She huffed and pushed her braid behind her. Annoying and exasperating as she was, Megumi was still her friend, and she would defend her just as much as she would defend any of the others in the Kenshin-gumi.
She snorted, as she slid back the shoji. The silly name Yahiko had pinned on their friend group had certainly stuck with her. She shook her head.
Focus Kaoru! She told herself. Now was no time for distractions.
She paused by Kenshin's room, uncertain of whether to call him or not. Deciding not to, she crept past quietly.
He needed his rest, besides–she looked up at the figure, who still hadn't moved–it didn't seem like they had sensed her yet. She could handle just one person, right?
Slowly she reached up to climb the roof. She kept to the edge, walking as quietly as she could to the person. Once she had them in sights, she raised her bokken and gave a might battle cry.
They turned as well and let out a yell as the bokken hit them over the head.
"Oro!"
"Oh my gosh, Kenshin!" She cried.
Letting go of the bokken, she rushed to him.
But her foot slid under her, and she looked down as a tile fell down with her.
Her hands shot out, grasping at empty air. As she fell forward onto roof and began sliding down.
She let out a gasp, or was it a yelp?
It didn't matter.
She was falling!
She managed to grab a tile, but it only fell off with her.
This was it!
Goodbye to Kamiya Kaoru! She could already see everyone mourning her death, this time for real.
"Gotcha!"
A hand grasped her arm tightly, for once she welcomed the pain, as she in turn held onto it.
Kenshin looked down at her with wide eyes.
"Are you okay?"
She looked down as the loose ceramic tiles smashed into the ground. Looking back at him, she could barely muster a small nod.
"Give me your other hand."
She did as told, and he pulled her back up with him.
"Thank you," squeezing his hand lightly as it slid away from hers.
"I'm sorry Kaoru-dono." He said, looking down.
"Don't be! it's not your fault!" She shook her head as she said it. "I should be the one to say sorry! I hit you pretty hard!"
He toughed his head gingerly, "This one is fine, that he is"
"Oh shut up and let me look at it." She pulled him down by the yukata.
"This one is fine really!" He said.
She pulled out the tie in his hair and parted it to get a better view.
"Yeah right, you've already got a bump forming!"
"Really Kaoru-dono!" He grabbed her hands and pulled them away from his head. "This one–I'm fine, it doesn't hurt as much."
He looked up at her, his hair sliding back down his shoulders.
She looked at his eyes. The suns creeping rays brought out the small gold flecks in his eyes. Had his violet eyes always been that dark and rich?
She swallowed, as the slant of his nose slid her down to his scar. While still clearly visible, its raised and rough edges had definitely smoothed down since the first time they met.
Hard as she tried not to, her eyes eventually trailed down to his lips. Once there, she couldn't look away.
She was at the market, picking out some vegetables, when she heard some giggling behind her.
Looking back, she saw a group of three girls clustered together. She recognized one as one of her neighbors. They all giggled and covered their red faces.
Her neighbor recognized her as well and waved her over.
Paying the vegetable vendor, she walked up to them.
She greeted her neighbor and the other two girls.
"What's going on?"
Her neighbor giggled again, "I was telling them about this rumor I heard."
"Rumor?"
She nodded, "They say that…" She motioned her closer.
She scooted closer to them and let her neighbor talk near her ear.
"I heard someone say that the color of a man's lips is also the color of…"
She pulled away and covered her mouth. And she felt her ears grow hot enough that she heard a low rumble.
"Really?" she whispered.
Her neighbor nodded and giggled, along with the rest of the girls. Each of their face a darker shade of red.
Again, she felt her ears grow hot, and she looked away from his lips.
But it was to late, she was already imagining it.
She focused instead on his hair, but the scene changed. He lay over her, she pulled on his hair, as he leaned down to her for a–
She cried and turned away from him, covering her face in shame.
"Kaoru-dono?"
She felt his hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"
She shook her head, face still covered, as she desperately tried to scare those thoughts away.
"Are you sure?" He whispered; concern evident in his voice.
"I'm fine Kenshin! I'm fine!"
Quick Kaoru think!
"What are you doing up here anyways?" She exclaimed, trying desperately to change the subject.
She risked a look in his directions.
He gave her a shy smile.
"I couldn't sleep."
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him.
"Hey!"
"I don't want you to fall again,"
She huffed and looked away. Her face must be impossibly red by now.
"So you climbed up on the roof in hopes of sleeping better?" She tugged on her braid, refusing to look at him.
"No, I came here to think, and…"
"And what?"
"And look at the stars," he said sheepishly.
"Stars?" She looked up. "Kenshin the sun is rising! It's dawn!"
"I know."
She looked at him, any shame she had, forgotten.
"Kenshin, how long were you out here?"
"Awhile," he answered. A small smile on his face, as he faced the sunrise with closed eyes.
She looked at it as well, but found she much preferred looking at the sun when it shone on his face.
Staying away from his lips, instead she focused on his eyelashes. They were a tint darker than his hair, but still shone bright red in the sun, almost an orange.
His arm around her tightened in response, and she looked away, only to look back.
Slowly, hesitantly, she leaned into his shoulder. Not quite leaning on him, but not quite sitting upright herself. She looked away again. She shouldn't have don't this, it was too awkward!
He shifted under her, and she pushed away, muttering a small apology.
He pulled her back into him, this time her was better positioned, so she fully depended on him to hold her up. All she needed to do was lean her back into the crook of his neck. His arm tightened again as she did.
She sighed, and finally she looked at the sunrise. From this vantage point they could see all the way out into the ocean.
They sat in silence together. And watched as Tokyo slowly began waking.
"Kaoru?" His voice sounded deeper when she was leaned into him.
"hmm?"
"Could you make me a promise?"
"What is it?"
"Could you… Could you promise me, that we'll sit together, and watch more sunrises like this one?"
She smiled and scooted closer to him. With the warmth of the sun on her skin, and closed eyes, she answered him.
"I promise."
Next Update: 06/08/21 In which Azamuku just doesn't know when to stop, new fatalities pop up, and Megumi seeks advice from an unlikely person.
A/N: I am so sorry. I know I was supposed to update last Saturday, and I'm just now updating. I've had a couple of rough weeks, and my health certainly took a toll on me, so while I managed to update chapter 8 on time, I wasn't able to complete, edit, and revise chapter 9 on time. And for that I am so sorry! O.o However I am here now, with a new chapter, that I hope everyone enjoyed reading. Definitely feeling better, and look forward to working on the next chapter. Se you all in two weeks! :D