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Souken no Shibun

Somber Rain

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"Well, with that done, I think I shall leave now." Masatake pulled the heavy cloak tighter about him as he stepped off the porch, once again under assault by the warm rain and murderous glares. Ah, well. It wasn't as if he was expecting a warm reception. Still, they could be a little nicer. It wasn't as if he had attacked them. Surely, their hatred was based purely on what had been told to them. However, these people didn't seem that shallow. If not that, though, then what?

No one barred his path to the gate, making him slightly more confident in the idea that there was something else upsetting them. It wasn't that he actually cared about their opinions. Well, most of them anyway. To have them this alert in his presence was a bit of an annoyance, though. Something would have to be done about that. "One word of advice, sister dears, before I go. Watch out for the Sangokudoumei. I'd feel rather put out if they killed you before I could."

He slipped through the gate, pulling it closed behind him as softly as he could manage, wincing internally when it creaked. He stood there a moment, trying to decide whether the visit had been worth the time he'd taken away from more important matters. He found the rumors to be true, been surrounded by people who wanted him more or less dead (though he suspected it was more, rather than less), and had nearly been the target of one of Kyouki's berserker furies.

He peered down the road, spotting his carriage swiftly approaching. Only one more errand to run, then he could go home. Return to his boring paperwork, the ever-present pressure of leadership, and Jonah's unwavering support. He was jolted out of his thoughts as the carriage quickly pulled up alongside him, inadvertently splashing him. He sputtered and glared at the driver. Oh, today was turning out to be just peachy and it was only mid-morning. Joy.

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Giving the report a cursory glance before sitting back in her chair, the woman rubbed her temples, trying to dispel the headache that seemed almost physical in its presence. The damn thing crept up on her about an hour ago; about the same time the meeting in the report had taken place. The headache was a reoccurring thing and at this point, not unexpected. It always seemed to happen when either of her children was in danger. Normally, one would write it off as motherly instinct, except that there was nothing the least bit motherly about the ash-blond. She personally considered it a curse and highly annoying.

As it was, the headache only served to distract her from work she desperately needed to get done. As the only female head of the underground, she had to take extra precautions to protect her very life, let alone her position. That she looked like a foreigner certainly didn't help her case any, but she was competent, cautious, and took care of her people. Usually. She had been known to randomly shoot people when she was in a particularly foul mood, but she was always miraculously forgiven for the loss of life and manpower. It was certainly nothing unusual for her. Before the long list of complex events that had transpired, allowing her to be sitting here, she was the only daughter of a noble family. She could do no wrong.

From top to bottom, relatively speaking. She was now wealthier beyond her noble family's wildest dreams, but society deemed those of the Underground to be the scum of the earth. It was a reputation well deserved, she supposed, when speaking generally.

Staring down at the jumbled words of the report, she frowned. As the headache receded, more of the page in front of her became understandable. So she had been there. The blond had hoped that one was dead, but apparently not. It had been what… two years? It had certainly been a while since that raid on the Sangokudoumei's headquarters. Then there were these others… Too many factors were being added to an already over-loaded equation, making the foreseeable future a little less predictable. Although it was something she was used to, the ash blond did so hate to have uninvited guests crashing the party. It simply wasn't polite. While bothersome, these new additions to her workload wouldn't hinder her. It simply meant she'd have to confer with her associates and decide whom best to send to eliminate the problem.

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Everyone just seemed content to stand in silence, puzzling through their confusion as best they could. The late-comers were still trying to sort out exactly just what had occurred and knowing only that it was something important. Kenshin and Sano were both busy trying to figure out why their apparent enemy would place himself in such danger to deliver a simple sword to Kyouki.

The sword-bearer herself was wondering when and where her peaceful life as a painter went spiraling out of control and turned into something she could no longer recognize. Her mind politely pointed the moment out to her and her eye twitched in irritation. Nevermind the feel of the real sword in her hand, a weapon she had supposedly used to ruthlessly murder hundreds of people with. Oh, her 'brother' hadn't said as much, but she could guess. He had said it was hers, after all, and the others had informed her that her last profession had been that of an assassin. And why the hell was she still standing out here with the damn rain pelting her face?!

Kaoru watched Kyouki's backside tense, then the girl turned and stormed into the house, still carrying the katana she'd apparently gotten from that visitor. She'd had one when she attacked Sanosuke, but she didn't have a clue where that had come from, or even where it had gone. Sanosuke had rid Kyouki of it soon after she passed out.

When Kaoru and the others had found out about Kyouki's past, Kaoru had felt a little nervous, admittedly. She had chided herself on the matter though, as Kyouki hadn't done anything to express that she would willingly bring them to harm. Even so, seeing Kyouki reach for sharp objects always seemed to make Kaoru's heart skip a beat. Still, she had persisted in trusting the girl. Except for those instances when the girl seemed to be someone else, she didn't seem terribly threatening. It was those instances that worried Kaoru now, though. With an actual weapon in her possession, what would Kyouki become capable of?

Michika flicked a piece of drenched hair away from her eyes, chewing on her lip. Honestly, she hadn't expected Masatake to appear on the Kamiya Dojo's doorstep. At least, not peaceably, anyways. It struck her as strange and made her wonder what was so important about Kyou's sword. Had he hidden something inside of it? A note perhaps? A map for a meeting place? Or was the sword simply meant as a reminder? And if so, what did he hope to accomplish by it? He knew how strong Michika's hold on Kyou's memory would be. And by the hells, why did her brother have to be so damn confusing?! His presence always left her with far too many questions and not enough answers. It was annoying! She was smart, she was cunning, and competent; so why couldn't she figure him out?

Yahiko had already disappeared into the house, trailing Kyouki. A sneaky grin had spread across his features as he prepared to barter with the girl for the beautiful sword that now found itself in her possession. With any luck, it would take very little effort on his part to swipe the blade from her grasp.

Misao stalked to head of the group and spun around to face them, hands on her hips. "Sorry to interrupt what I'm sure were very interesting internal monologues, but I have a question. Has anyone seen Aoshi-sama?" They looked at her on confusion, others shaking their heads, and Misao sighed. In a tree outside the dojo walls, leaves rustled too quietly to hear as a shadow quickly passed from it and disappeared. Shoulders drooping, Misao dragged herself inside.

The others took her interruption as their cue to return to their prior duties. Kenshin returned to the kitchen, a frown gracing his features, Sano returned to his perch on the porch, and Kaoru, finding her student missing, went on a frantic, and rather loud, search for him. It was at this moment, that Michika remembered her 'situation', and blushing furiously, took after Kaoru to borrow some clothes.

Natsuo and his pint-sized friend had yet to reappear after falling from the dojo wall.

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A smile touched his lips as he passed through the trees. Not an unusual thing. He was successful in destroying the organization in Niigata that was controlling the illegal slave trade for the area. He simply didn't approve of slavery. It reminded him too much of the past. Seeing those people about to be shipped off to some foreign land against their will struck some emotional chord and he couldn't find it within himself to ignore their plight.

So he had set about systematically taking down the main operators. Strange thing was, one had already been killed when he got there. He'd slipped in, unnoticed and made his way to the room where the man's office was. At first, he'd thought no one was in there. So he waited a few minutes before making his way inside, to see if its occupant would return. He had not, but remaining in the hallway much longer was too great a risk. He had quietly stepped, as he had done with so many other people before this one.

The difference was never before had he been met with such a scene as this. Blood smeared everything and the man's various appendages seemed to be haphazardly thrown about the room. He double-checked where he was standing; wouldn't do to be stepping on some random organ and slip, now would it? The level of violence was hardly upsetting. From the looks of it, the scene was only minutes old and the man's murder carried out without alerting anyone.

Not one to spurn his good fortune, he simply left the way he came. That had been days ago; he'd dealt with several other slavers since then. He'd even managed to refrain from killing most of them. He simply left their unconscious bodies on the nearest police station's doorstep with packages of evidence, some full enough to bring down even the most powerful of men.

Unfortunately, it appeared his good fortune had been short-lived. He allowed a small frown to grace his boyish features as he stepped away from the trees, heading towards the only inn for miles. In his last raid, he'd found evidence that those particular slavers weren't in the business simply for the profit; apparently, their work had gone towards funding something much larger. However, other than vague mentionings of this larger benefactor, whether it was a person or another group, he couldn't find anything on them passed those mentions.

He circled the old in, heading immediately for the back entrance and greeting the few people he passed, warm smile in place. He quietly stepped into the kitchens, nodding to the resident cook, and slipped an apron over his clothes.

Some feeling continued to nag at him though. From past experience, he knew there could be nothing good going on with this larger benefactor if they were getting their funds from the slave trade. He also suspected that the murdered slaver was somehow connected to this. According to the records he'd managed to get a hold of, that man had given this mysterious person or group no reason to kill him. An enemy of the benefactor, perhaps? But, then, why just that one man and not the others?

The young man tied up his sleeves and, brushing some hair from his eyes, went to work on the inn's ever-growing piles of dishes. There wasn't anything he could do about it right now, so there was little point in worrying about it.

A light tapping on his shoulder brought him out of thoughts. He stood up straight and turned to see his employer, a middle-aged woman who looked to have enjoyed one too many sweets in her life. She was kind, if a bit of a perfectionist, but it was by her good graces that he had a roof over his head and food to eat.

She smiled in that way of hers that said 'why-can't-everyone-else-be-like-you' and held a folded piece of paper out to him. "A messenger just brought this for you," she explained.

He smiled brightly and thanked her, making sure to dry his hands before taking the paper from her. She quickly disappeared into the front half of the inn as he stared down at the note, wondering who it could be from. No one was supposed to know he was here, though, technically, he hadn't gone out of his way to hide his presence.

He unfolded the message and quickly skimmed over its contents, the corner of his mouth twitching as his smile tried to turn into a frown. Finishing, he shook his head and dropped the note into the dishwater, stirring it around until the ink bled too much to be readable.

He was just starting to enjoy it here, too. It couldn't be helped, he supposed. He pulled the note from the water and threw it away, wondering how long they had known he was here.

As he pulled the apron over his head to put it away, he blinked as he was once again greeted by the face of his employer. She was squinting her chocolate-colored eyes at him, as if doing so would allow her to peer into his very soul. She nodded to herself and he began to wonder if it had. "I won't ask, but if you're going south, I'll warn you now. A couple of the merchants passing through say there's a rainstorm in the Tokyo area."

He smiled, a true one no less, and bowed gratefully. "Arigato, Akane-san."

She watched him head off to grab his things and sighed to herself. "Just remember to be careful, Soujiro..."

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A/N: *flails* Look, look, I'm here, I'm here! Whee! Well, sort of... for the moment... *stares at applications she got* Soon to be permanent... I'm hyper... reading depressing, angst ridden stuff makes me hyper... don't know why... I just know I can't stop giggling... hehe. I love ellipses... (you will worhsip Author Lady)

Luce: Wheee... hyper is fun. Although, I tend to talk a bit much. *sighs* Any other time and you're lucky to get two words from me, and no guarantees that they would be coherent. Hehe. Oo, it the Otherwise category a good thing? And I think it's fine to feel special over being in an Author's Note. When I wasn't getting sleep... I was worse then I am when I'm hyper, and one author finally ordered me to bed or she wouldn't write any more. Hehe. It was funny. That was the first time I'd been in one. Yep. Well, it's not quite as long and didn't come quite as quickly as you wanted, but I hope it will do! *waves*

tenshineko: *grins* Yessss... Hiko-sama... I had plans to actually bring him into this fic. There were plans... it was in writing... but then the story changed on me a bit. So we'll have to wait and see if Hiko does anything more than intrude on Yahiko's dream. Yep.

Thanks to Cymberleah, official Author Lady, (you will worship Author Lady) for pre-reading!