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On with the fic!
thoughts>>
{[flashbacks]}
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READ THE WARNING BEFORE PROCEEDING FURTHER
By Lady Shorinai
The beggar leading the police officer was acting nervous; eyes always flitting from place to place, even going up to where Kenshin was trailing on the rooftops occasionally. Once he stopped and started screaming incoherently about watching eyes, though, the rurouni decided it would be over far more quickly if he stopped following.
Paranoid indeed. Saitoh seems to have been right about that, at least, >> the redhead thought as he dropped lightly to the ground a few buildings away. I suppose the best thing would be for me to go and wait with him at headquarters until Baisotei-san reports. I hate this waiting. I just wish I could do something!>> His eyes were solid amber as he stalked down the street, never noticing the crowds that parted for him like a school of fish around a shark.
Saitoh seemed unsurprised when Kenshin came into his office. "I told you following them wouldn't work," the taller man said through the smoke-haze.
But you also knew I had to try. What
would you do if Tokio-san(6) were missing? Would you be able to sit
calmly in your office, or would you try to follow anyway as well?>>
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Yahiko was bored.
Normally, this wasn't a problem. Usually, Kaoru would yell at him and give him something to do, or he'd go to the Akabeko and see if they needed any help today. But Kaoru was gone, he'd already cleaned the dojo four times, and he couldn't leave because someone might come with a message. So he remained bored. As he debated sweeping the walk again, a knock came from the gate.
"Sumimasen!(7)" a child's voice called.
Yahiko went to answer it. The kidnappers wouldn't have sent a kid, would they? Maybe it's a message from Kenshin.>> "Konichiwa.(8)"
The boy looked like he was a little younger than ten. He was holding a package. "Konichiwa. Kamiya Kaoru-san onegai shimasu.(9)"
Yahiko fought to keep his expression neutral. "Kaoru's not here."
"But she does live here?"
"Hai."
The boy held out the package. "She ordered this. Would you see that she gets it? Please?"
Taking the bundle, he automatically nodded. "Sure. How much…?"
"Okaasan told me it's already paid for." With a bright smile, he bowed. "Arigato goz
"Arigato gozaimashita," he replied absently, bowing back. When the boy turned to leave, he closed the gate. Busu ordered something? When? She's been gone for a week. What is it, anyway?>> His fingers itched to open it. Maybe she wouldn't mind…>> He sat back on the porch, his fingers unconsciously picking at the string. But maybe she would.>> He noticed what his hands were doing, and forced them away from it. Why didn't she tell us?>>
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Someone quietly knocked on the door. Saitoh didn't raise his eyes from the paperwork he was looking at as he said "Enter." The door opened and a lieutenant stepped in.
"Sir, Baisotei-san has reported the area where the beggar says he sees the girls being taken."
"Did he report any such activity?"
"No, sir."
"How large of an area is it?"
"About three blocks square, sir, near the market district. Apparently the beggar said that he saw most of it at night, sir."
"I'll organize the stake-out. Dismissed." The lieutenant bowed and left the room. Kenshin rose to his feet. "Where do you think you're going, Battousai?"
Yellow eyes turned to look across the room. "To see for myself."
"Ahou(10). We'll both be patrolling it tonight. Go home and rest now; a half-asleep hitokiri won't be of any help tonight."
Kenshin left without another word, walking at an easy pace down the street.
How could I have let her be taken? When did I become so careless? It's been months since Enishi…. He's not a threat anymore. Neither are most of my old enemies, unless they've found a way to come back from the dead. A few months of peace, and the violence leaves me completely unbalanced. Does the fact that my guard dropped mean I've lost me edge? Or does it indicate something else?>> Quickly, his mind swam through memories, searching for answers. There was the year… that almost nothing happened. And then those bandits attacked that village… I was as sharp then as when I started wandering, as I was a year ago. So what…?>>
{["Matte!" The voice was a shock in the still night. "Matte! Hitokiri Battousai!"
The redhead turned around, surprised. "Hmm?" Who would call out the Battousai in this city, so long after the war is over?>>
A girl who couldn't even be twenty years of age stood in the center of the street, a bokken in her hands and fire in her eyes. "I've finally found you. You're shorter than I expected, Hitokiri Battousai!" She brought the wooden sword up to a ready position.
"Oro?" I'm not that short. Wait, how does she know I was—>>
"Be prepared!" The girl rushed toward him, swinging the bokken around to strike.
The man lightly leapt out of the way of her attack, gauging it to land on a short fence. A startled "Oro?" passes his lips as the boards give way. He could've sworn it would hold him.]}
Kenshin stopped abruptly, his foot hitting the ground hard, sending a jolt up through his spine. Kaoru-dono. I let my guard down around her. Like when Jin-eh took her, I didn't even notice him coming. Baka! You promised you would keep her safe. Some protector you are. You can't even focus when she's around. And what happens? She goes missing.>> He snorted. Now you can't even relax enough to get a full night's sleep.>>
With a sigh, he turned toward the dojo. I hate it when he's right.>>
The dojo was quiet—normal since she'd been gone. "Tadaima(11)," he called.
"Okaeri(12)!" Yahiko's voice returned.
The walk's been very thoroughly swept,>> Kenshin thought as he went down it. Yahiko must be bored.>> When he got to the porch, he noticed a package there. Hm? What's this?>> If it was dangerous, he didn't want it anywhere near the dojo. If it was mundane, it wouldn't hurt if he found out what it was. Curiosity mixing with caution, he decided to open it. He made quick work of the knots and was unwrapping the paper when Yahiko came around the corner of the house.
"Is there… news?"
"There's a possibility," Kenshin said after a pause.
"That came for her. He said she already paid for it."
Kenshin lifted a kimono of purple silk from the wrapping paper. It was simple, with virtually no ornamentation, just a few small decorative stitches on the sleeves in black thread. She would look beautiful in this.>> Carefully, he folded it back up. "I'll put this in her room." He stepped out of his geta and onto the porch, walking toward the bedrooms.
"Kenshin?"
Yahiko's voice turned him around. "Yes, Yahiko?"
"Why are you here in the middle of the day? Why aren't you out looking for her?"
"I'm going to go look for her tonight, with the police. I'm going to sleep some now so I'm not too tired tonight."
"Oh. Okay."
"You know you can go out if you like; you don't have to stay here all day."
"No. If news comes, I want to be here to get it."
Nodding in understanding, Kenshin resumed walking.
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The wind carried an autumn chill, felt by Kenshin more so than most of his fellow watchers due to his rooftop perch. A patchy cloud cover blew across the sky, sometimes allowing moonlight through for sudden, sporadic illumination of the streets. In the darkness of the night he could see people moving, but recognized every one of them as the others on the stake-out. However, only one other dared the roofs.
Mibu's wolf, two roofs away, caught his attention. The taller man jerked his head to one side. Kenshin nodded, and they both started moving to a different position. The night was more than half over, and nothing had happened yet.
Carefully scanning the streets below as they passed, they made their way across the area. A short distance away, someone started singing. He sounded drunk. The two paused, made eye contact, and started toward the sound. It was Sekine's signal that he saw something.
Sekine was seated on the ground, propped up against a wall that was on the very edge of the assigned perimeter. One leg was half folded, like he'd been in mid-step when he sat, the other was pointing straight out down one direction of the road. Kenshin and Saitoh went in that direction, not waiting for the rest of the men to answer the signal. Not very far off, they came across four men. One was carrying an unconscious woman. The four were walking cautiously, peering into the shadows as though they expected something to jump out at them.
Saitoh came abreast with Kenshin. "Let's see where they're taking her," the taller man said. "It may be faster than catching them and trying to get them to talk."
"Mm," Kenshin agreed. Then, the group of policemen came around the corner.
"Stop!" one of them called. The four turned to run but found their path blocked by a pair of men—one short and one tall—with yellow eyes.
Kenshin watched the eyes of the four, and saw them come to a decision. If they wanted to get away they had to either 1: go through two men, or 2: go through a small horde of men. Against most men, the former would be the safest bet. The four apparently did not know who these two were, however, since that was the one they chose. Two of the three not carrying the woman reached to draw swords from hidden sheaths.
"Don't do that," the redhead said in a low voice. They ignored his warning.
Kenshin moved. In one fluid motion he rushed forward, drew his sakabatou, and brought it down on each of the unburdened men's backs with enough force to render them unconscious. By the time the policemen reached them, the cold steel of his blade was resting lightly against the fourth man's neck.
"Care to explain yourself now?" The moon slid out from behind the clouds, its light glinting down the perfect length of steel. The man swallowed nervously and offered no resistance when the police took the woman from him and restrained him. Kenshin automatically snapped off a chiburi(13) before replacing his blade in its sheath.
Saitoh stepped between the rurouni and the captive. "Where were you taking her?" he demanded. The man tried to speak but was stammering so hard no one could make the words out. With a disgusted snort, the wolf turned to his officers. "Take the ahou's in. Interrogate them. See that the woman's comfortable, and send the next patrol out."
"Hai!" several of the policemen said, and began hauling both the unconscious and the unintelligible off.
"I'm going to keep patrolling until the next shift shows up," the taller man said as the remainder of the force spread out again.
Kenshin grunted in response and leapt to the roof. Nimbly, he trailed the group going to the police station. Two more of the thugs managed to be semi-conscious before they got there. When the group got inside and the next shift left, he dropped to the street and followed them in.
"Where are they?" the redhead demanded of the officer manning the front desk.
The officer knew the man standing in front of him wasn't a member of the police force. He also knew that Fugita(14) held him in respect, treated him as though he was potentially dangerous, and that he was working on the case with them. "The lady's lying down in the back; each of the men are being interrogated in separate rooms."
Kenshin nodded and headed back to the interrogation rooms. The officer made no move to stop him.
He was not going to go into the rooms himself unless it sounded like it was necessary; he wasn't sure how the thugs might react to him. He did not want to endanger the best opportunity they had of finding Kaoru.
From one room was just the sound of quiet moans. He must be just waking up.>> In the second room was stammering. His eyes narrowed in satisfaction. If these were the people responsible for her disappearance, causing a little fear in them was small consolation. In the third room it sounded like a calm conversation was taking place, and in the fourth someone was talking very fast, almost frantically. Doesn't sound like I'm really needed here at the moment.>> He found the room where the lady was. She was lying on the ground, her head pillowed on someone's jacket. When he asked the officer at the front desk why there was no one with her he was told that the one who'd carried her in had gone for a doctor. Nodding, Kenshin went back to the interrogation rooms. Leaning against the wall by the room with the speed-talker, he waited.
A few minutes later, Saitoh strolled up. "Hear anything interesting, Battousai?"
"I haven't. But the officers doing the questioning might have."
Smiling, Saitoh cocked his head. "The one in here seems to be doing a lot of talking. I think I'll go in and see if he's actually saying anything worth listening to." He casually strode by the redhead and into the room, leaving the door open a small crack.
"That's all I know, I swear," the thug kept repeating, his voice tight with what seemed to be neear-panic.
"Why don't you tell me what you know?" Saitoh's voice was a cool as ever, implying that if he thought cutting the man up would be a faster way to get him to talk he wouldn't hesitate in doing so.
"The guy just tells us how many to get, or what they should look like. I don't know where they take them or what they do with them."
"What 'guy'?"
"I don't know his name; none of us do. He tells us what to get and we get it."
"By 'it', you mean the women."
This time his voice was shaky. "Yeah."
"And where do you take these women?"
"It changes every time. Every night it's a different place."
"So you bring him a woman every night?"
"No. No; when we don't, someone goes and meets him. Then he tells us the next place."
"And where was tonight's meeting place?"
The thug named a location so softly Kenshin almost didn't hear it. That's… not too far from where we found them.>>
"He doesn't like to be kept waiting."
Saitoh didn't voice an answer, but stepped out of the room, closing the door completely behind him. He pulled on his cigarette, exhaled the smoke. "Well. I guess I'm going back out." He started to walk. Before Kenshin could say anything, he called back over his shoulder "Aren't you coming, Battousai?"
"Aa."
Side by side, the two stepped out into the night.
To Be Continued
Please, Review!!! Onegai shimasu!
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I know, Kenshin sounds like he's listening to Saitoh a lot in this chapter. I have a reason for this. I'm assuming Saitoh has been a policeman for most of the time since the Bakumatsu. Kenshin is listening to him because he assumes the former Shinsen-gumi has more experience doing things like this.
If you're still wondering what the title means, I can give you
the translations of the individual words, but I can't tell you if it actually
makes sense.
tatsu - dragon
rokujou - the six emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure &
love, and hatred
geta - traditional Japanese footwear
okaeri - welcome home
(6) Saitoh's wife.