Ookami no Mubi

Chapter One

By: Gator Ri and Kellendraysia

The old man turned as he heard the pitter patter of little feet on the porch of the clinic, he smiled at his two grand daughters as they looked up at him, "Don't go grandpa."

He smiled at them through the rain as it came down and ran off the umbrella that he was carrying, "Now don't not worry girls I will be back in a few days. You help Megumi now you hear."

They nodded their heads with sad looks in their eyes, it still didn't change the fact that they didn't want him to go.

Turning to head back down the street he gave them a wave and disappeared into the curtain of water, sloshing through the growing mud as he went.

Besides leaving town for a few days he also had a message to deliver to the Kamiya Kasshin Dojo from Megumi, it was a rather grim situation and he wouldn't be leaving if he wasn't expected in some other villages.

After sometime of walking through mud and rain, and getting a bit damp himself, the good old doctor arrived at his first destination, at which he let himself in and walked up the path to the dojo. Everything seemed to be going normally here, for Sanosuke was of course lounging on the porch chewing on a piece of grass.

"Good day to you Sanosuke," the old man greeted.

"Hmmm?" Sano wondered as he heard a voice and turned his brown spiky head in the direction it came from. Upon seeing the doctor he gave a lazy wave and grin, "Hello, Dr. Gensai, how are things?"

The doctor's face fell a bit, "Not too good."

The fighter raised a brow, "Well, why don't you come in out of the rain and I'll go and get Kouru and Kenshin then," he said this as he got to his feet and walked towards one of the doors. Sliding it open he walked inside and waited for the doctor to walk through.

"Thank you, Sanosuke, it is dreadfully damp out there," commented the old man as he walked into the dojo and out of the rain.

Sliding the door closed Sano quickly made his way out of the room and through the dojo looking for Kenshin and Kouru.

Kouru he had no trouble finding since she was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor.

"Oh there you are," she said grudgingly, "You know it wouldn't hurt you to help out around here a little to, Sanosuke."

"Not now..." groaned as he rolled his eyes and sighed, "Dr. Gensai is here and wants to talk to you and Kenshin. I have a feeling it isn't too good either."

This made the little woman look up, she blinked her eyes, "Oh..." was all she could utter. Getting to her feet she motioned back towards the front, "Go and keep him company. I'll go get Kenshin."

Nodding Sano turned and started to walk back to where the good doctor was waiting.

Kouru chewed her bottom lip a bit in nervousness as she made her way to the kitchen, for that is usually where she could find the samurai at this time of day. Peeking her head around the doorway she looked around the room, "Kenshin?"

Just as Kouru predicted the little samurai was in the kitchen, humming some chipper tune despite the rain as he was working on cutting up a diakon radish to add to the stew that he was making for lunch. His movements stopped at the sound of Kouru's voice.

"Is there something that I can help you with Miss Kouru?" Kenshin asked as he turned to the woman with a smile upon his lips.

The woman smiles as she sees the red haired man working on lunch, "Do you think that you could put that off for a few minutes, Kenshin?" she queries, "Dr. Gensai is here and has asked to talk to all of us."

Red brows lofted together at the woman's request.

"Is something wrong Miss Kouru?" Kenshin asks as he set the knife down on the counter next to the half cut radish and removed the apron from around his neck. "It is a bit unusual for Dr. Gensai to wish to speak with us all when all he is doing is getting ready to leave town, that it is."

He moved out of the kitchen to stand next to the woman, "I hope that it is nothing too serious," he added.

The dark headed woman shook her head, making the pony tail sway with the motion, "I don't know. He didn't say anything. Just that he wanted to see us, I guess." An uncertain note entered her voice, for she
hadn't really stopped to think about the unusualness of the good doctor's request.

As she turned with the samurai following behind her, she nodded, "I hope so as well," for now she had a feeling of foreboding in the pit of her stomach.

The doctor looked up as Kouru and Kenshin came in, Sano already lounging against a post as he seemed to find his nail extremely interesting.

The old man wasn't smiling, which was odd for him, and made the feeling in Kouru's stomach worsen, "W-what did you want to see us about, Dr.?" she asked, her voice trying to betray her nerves.

The doctor gave a sigh as he looked down at the polished wood floor; "It's about what has been happening in the streets, starting two days ago."

Sano looked up from his so interesting nails as the doctor began to speak, he nodded his spiky head, "Yeah, I've heard what's been happening to little girls." He clenched his fist at the thought of the girls that had been kidnapped, three of them in two days. Thing was there were no signs of anything being left behind except for a symbol in the wood or dirt, the symbol for Kyoto. He shook himself from these thoughts as the doctor continued on.

"There has been another attack. It was done last night but the parents were able to intervene," he looked up, "The girl was sorely wounded and was very out of it. She is at the clinic now. I would wish for you to go and speak with Megumi. She seems...almost haunted by this."


Kouru covered her mouth as she slid to her knees, how glad she was that Yahiko had been sent to the market earlier so that he didn't have to hear this. "Th-this is horrible," was all she could muster as the knot in her stomach tightened.

The cheerful look on Kenshin's face was replaced by a grim one at Dr. Gensai's words. He hadn't heard much about the attacks since he hasn't been in town for the past couple of days, most of his work had been around the dojo and with Yahiko so insistent about going into the town he didn't argue. He figured part of the boy's want to go into town was to see Tsubame, but those were thoughts he kept to himself. His gaze flowed from the doctor to Sano when the tall fighter started to speak.

"Kyoto," the small samurai murmur as his eyes narrowed slightly, his hands folding up into the voluminous sleeves of his kimono to form fists outside of the view of the others present. He did not like this one bit. It appears that this one's past likes to come and find him just as things were starting to go well for him again.

He reached out a hand to lay it upon Kouru's shoulder as she slid to the floor next to him. He looked down at her for a moment, his face softening for a moment before his gaze returned to the doctor, his expression quite unreadable.

"Thank you for the news Dr. Gensai, I think that it would be best for us to go visit Miss Megumi as you request," there was a dry but serious note in Kenshin's voice as he spoke.

The woman looked up at Kenshin as he laid a hand on her shoulder, at which she lightly placed her over. Her eyes searched his face, "Kyoto...so you've heard then," her eyes looked a bit watery, "Oooh, Kenshin..."

She then wiped away her tears, it wasn't Kenshin that she had to worry about right now, it was Megumi. Gently pushing the samurai's hand off her shoulder she got to her feet, "Thank you, Dr. Gensai."

The doctor gave a nod of his grey head, "It is no problem, she wanted to see you all anyway," he gave them all a reassuring grin, "But now I must be on my way as I am expected."

Sano gave a nod off his head as he pushed himself off the post, he didn't say anything although the tenseness of his body showed how he felt about the situation, whether he really realized it or not.

"Let me walk you out, doctor," Kouru offered as she stepped forward.

He shook his head and held up his hand, "No, no need. I can find my way. You just concentrate on getting over to the clinic."

The dark headed woman gave a nod of her head as she watched the old man leave. Turning she looked at Kenshin, "Come, we must go," she could really feel that they must and hurry.

"She's right," Sano interjected, saying the first thing since really thinking about the situation at hand, "As much as we all hate to admit it, Megumi does need our help," at this he sighed and shook his, trying to not take too seriously, yet.

---------------------------------------------

He sat on a cushion at the low table with his family, just having a cup of tea when he heard a knock on the door. Frowning, the man got to his feet and made his way to the door, sliding it open he looked down upon a police officer.

"Goro, sir," the man said feeling rather nervous under the man's intense gaze, "I am sorry to bother you but the chief would like you to come in."

"It is my day off," the man replied bluntly and coldly.

"It's about the attacks sir."

The frown deepened, "All right, go and tell the chief that I will be there shortly."

Nodding the officer ran back out into the rain to do as told.

Sliding the door shut Fujita made his way through the house and to the bedroom that he shared with his wife, Tokio, only to emerge a few minutes later dressed in his police uniform.

Going back to where his family still sat he looked at them, "I have to go, duty calls me."

Turning, so as not to hear protests, he walked back to the front door and proceeded to put on his shoes. Straightening he also grabbed his hat off the hook as well as threw a cloak about his shoulders to guard against the rain.

At last he was ready. Sliding the front door open he walked through it and closed it behind him before stepping off the porch and out into the rain.

The young woman with fiery red hair sat there upon the one of the mats, sipping at her cup of tea in her cold hands as she was bundled up in a heavy blanket, just coming in from the rain about ten minutes before the officer arrived at the door. Her golden eyes blinked at the officer as the words slowly sank in as her father got up and disappeared into the bedroom. She set the cup down and nearly knocked it over as she got up as the blanket fell on the table and her mother then scolded her. She waited patiently for her mother to finish before running after the much taller man.

"Father wait up!" she called after him as she nearly ran into the door as it slid shut before her.

Thankfully she was able to stop before she crashed though it. Boy she would have gotten it then if she broke the door again, after it had just been fixed. Then out into the rain she ran, getting drenched for the second time that day. Her bare feet splashing through the puddles, as she forgot her tabi socks and zori sandals behind as she was told to take them off at the door to keep from tracking water in. She made a nab for her father's arm just as she slipped in the mud. Her dark green hakama pants flapping about her heavily soaked with water.

"You promised to stay home today," she started before her voice turned into a high pitched yip of realization that she may land face first in the mud. **Today is just not my day,** she thought.

Stopping he turned upon hearing the slap of bare feet in the mud. He frowned as he saw his daughter come running out into the rain, having missed his arm when she made a grab for it he reached out to chat her so that she wouldn't fall in the mud.

Setting her right on her feet he looked down at her with his golden eyes as his gloved hands rested on her shoulders, "I know what I said but I can not," he said bluntly as he turned from her.

"You should get back inside before you catch cold. I'm sure you don't want your mother to have to mop up any more messes today either," he started walking away as he said this, readjusting his katana that hung at his side.

"But…but..Ooooooooo," she started, as she became more and more frustrated. "NO FAIR!" She shouted the top of her lungs as her father's turned back.

"Every time you have a tiny bit of time to stay home and spend with your family they always come and call you away!" she said in an exasperated tone, the then turned around and ran back towards the house. Up the wooden steps she ran, sliding the door open without stopping to clean the mud off her feet she ran inside. Past her mother and into her room shutting the door behind her. Were she could hide her tears of frustration at hardly ever being able to spend time with her father, since she was barely able to leave the house and travel as it was and now, he was gone again.

Sighing the man continued on his way, ignoring his daughter's antics, he was used to them. Sure he wasn't home much but duty was always calling. Shaking his head free of these thought Fujita made his way to the police station.

Upon entering the building he made his way to the chief's office, knowing that the man would be waiting to talk to him about the latest development.

Reaching the door he knocked and waited to be granted entrance, when he was he nodded a good day to his chief before taking off his wet cloak and hanging it on a hook before taking a seat at the table where the chief was having tea.


The officer kneeled on the mat, as he removed his hat, on the opposite side of the table as he was offered tea, he accepted it but didn't touch it while he waited for the man to begin.

Finally the chief spoke, "This is really starting to bug me, Officer Goro," he started, "I don't like these attacks happening in my city. We need to put an end to this. Have you heard the latest?"

Fujita gave a slight shake of his head.

The other man sighed, "Another girl was almost attacked today and there was the one yesterday, which was taken to Gensai's Hospital."

Again Fujita nodded his head, his golden eyes not leaving the Chief's face, "I will go down to the hospital then and see what I can do."

Taking a sip of his tea the older man nodded, "All right, I trust you on this Officer."

Giving the other man a small smirk, Fujita raised to his feet and offered the other man a slight bow before replacing his hat, and taking his cloak off the hook as he left the room.

Throwing the cloak about his shoulders he walked back out into the rain heading towards his destination.