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Souken no Shibun

Winding Down

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Saito flicked the ashes off his cigarette as he stared at the dojo gates. Well, that was a waste of time. Sometimes, Saito really wished he was at liberty to kill whoever he damn well pleased. Then he wouldn't have worry about watching the Shibun and Sangokudoumei leaders to get the necessary information to bring down their respective organizations. He could just kill each of them off when they stepped out of line.

However, things didn't work that way and life wasn't that easy. It really too bad. It would have been fun. It was still rather annoying, though, that Battousai had simply let the man walk away unharmed. What a fool he was to let that man, a man who would surely kill the red-head's little patchwork family if given ample opportunity, leave the property.

Still, he should have known; did know, that unless the Battousai's family was threatened, he wouldn't act. Such hesitation on the red-head's part would surely be the downfall of the other three someday. Such a waste.

Contemplating such stupidity was pointless, so Saito dragged him mind from those ponderings and tried to sort through all of the events. He knew that wars were truly won by the precious few who struck in the right places. One needed only figure out those points to have the key to victory. The only problem with this situation was that there seemed to be so many players that the effects of such an action would be lessened greatly. That, or someone was deliberately going about, making things seem larger and more complicated than there were.

As it stood, those that needed to be done away with made up a decent-sized list. At least, it was when compared to the amount of men under his command that were truly trained for this. He had to take out the three leaders of the Sango, the active half of the Shibun, and all of their associates within the government. A rather daunting task when one sat down and actually counted the names. Especially when each hit had to take place at the same time.

So Saito waited and watched this little drama play out. He had time... and if some of them happen to kill each other, all the better for him. Hopefully, someone would take out that annoying twit, Chushin, while they were at it. The world was definitely better off without idiots like him.

Something about that nagged at him, though. Why wasn't the he already dead? Surely, the Nentou's people could have easily found him, especially considering Chushin's correspondence with his sister. Why hadn't the rival organizations disposed of him either? Surely, they all knew of his divided loyalties.

Saito narrowed his eyes at the alley the Nentou and his small companion had disappeared into. Saito couldn't come up with any reason why the man hadn't been killed yet. It simply did not make sense. However, it was obvious there was a reason, and that prospect of what that could be did not please him.

Time passed and a shadow stepped away from the wall behind him, eyes scanning the area cautiously. "It's done." No response was needed, so Saito simply continued to glare at the dojo. Chou shifted nervously behind him. "Are you sure this will work?

Saito frowned and turned away from the dojo when he realized he'd get no peace otherwise. "You should know the answer to that already."

Chou nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I suppose."

Saito pulled out the cigarette pack and bit back a curse when he found it empty. Glaring down at the traitorous package, he turned and began heading back to his current office. "I've got work to do."

*******************************************************************

The rest of the day passed slowly and uneventfully, bringing relief to most and irritation to a select few. Kenshin being Kenshin, was relieved because a fight hadn't been necessary, so no one had gotten hurt. Well, aside from Natsuo, but Kenshin could live with that. Really. He could.

Kaoru recounted the morning's incident to Megumi, who'd come to check on Kyouki. Megumi was a little upset that she'd missed all the fun, but was otherwise happy to hear that her services hadn't been needed. Of course, her irritation set in when she went to examine the baka-neko and found the girl had disappeared. She'd found her in the dojo not too long after, staring at some damn sword. The girl had taken off as soon as she realize Megumi was there and a short chase ensued, ending with Megumi standing victoriously over a dazed Kyouki. Funny part was, Megumi hadn't actually done anything. Kyouki had simply run into a wall.

Yahiko reappeared after realizing that trying to get the sword from Kyouki would be a lost cause. He sat down on the porch with Sano, just radiating waves of anger. This, combined with an edgy Sano, allowed many an argument to bloom between the two. Finally, they quieted down, Sano mumbling about the lack of challenge and Yahiko gnawing on Sano's head with a vengeance.

Michika spent her time suspiciously eyeing the grinning rurouni as he served dinner to the crowd. Seeing him so happy over seemingly nothing made her nervous in a way she couldn't quite describe and he only grinned wider at Michika's attempt to wipe it from his face. When Kaoru had finished her story-telling session with Megumi, she too had joined in the little observation, happy to see Kenshin using some expression other than that vapid smile of his.

Misao had taken to the roof, mourning the disappearance of her beloved Aoshi. She knew he was here, but if he hadn't contacted Kenshin and the others, then something was up. Something important that she shouldn't interfere with. Still, if she stayed here, he'd eventually show up, she was sure of it. After all, all these people gathered here in one place couldn't be a coincidence, right?

Meanwhile, in the other part of the house, Kyouki had woken from her daze. She was laid out on her futon, tucked in and warm. She turned her head and found that Megumi had been nice enough to place the sword beside. She sat up and pulled it into her lap, unsheathing the sword a bit. In the moonlight, the sword seemed to glow, making the markings on the blade more pronounced. There was some design that Kyouki assumed represented the Shibun. The source of her uneasiness, however, came from the words scrawled in flowing kanji beneath the design.

"Death comes to us all."

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Michika seemed at a loss. She was far too used to always having something to do. When she'd been a part of the Shibun, there'd had always been something to do. It didn't necessarily have to be anything to do with the Shibun, though. Their house was huge and their father was a cheap bastard when it came to hired help. Coincidentally, it was the same father that decided she would be doing most of that work. It'll help you to grow up strong, he'd said. Bah, he was just being lazy and cheap.

Natsuo and Kyouki had helped out, thankfully; Natsuo did when he could sneak away from their mother's watchful, over-protective gaze and Kyouki did when she had time free from her training. Masatake, on the other hand, would blatantly laze about, as their father would. Bastard. Must have been a pre-requisite for being the leader.

After leaving the Shibun, she'd started that restaurant. By herself. That easily explained itself. It was worth it, though, to be able to see the fruits of her labor every time she saw a repeat customer.

Now, though, she was sitting on that damn porch, her hands idly folded in her lap as she stared out at the stars. It was boring as hell. When she'd offered to help with whatever chores were left after dinner, Kaoru had insisted they were almost done already. Michika frowned. More than likely, Kaoru had just been trying to get Michika to go away. She would soon enough, but something was bugging her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but some feeling told her she needed to stay around a little longer.

At some point, Sano and the doctor had disappeared. Normally, Michika would assume together, considering what she knew of Sano. However, Megumi hadn't seemed like that sort of woman. So it left Michika wondering about the two. She'd also noticed more than one of the doctor's dark glares aimed at Sano. So more than likely, Sano wasn't going to enjoy whatever treatment the lady doctor had to offer.

To her knowledge, Kaoru had gone off to take a bath and Yahiko had taken to bed early, exhausted from the day's training. Kyouki hadn't come out of her room since Megumi had placed her there. As for Kenshin, Michika had no clue as to his whereabouts. She hadn't seen him since dinner ended.

The little ninja girl, Misao, had refused to come up off the roof since learning there'd been no sighting of this Aoshi fellow. The man's name was familiar to Michika, but not something she'd heard recently, she was sure. It was too bad, really. She'd liked that earlier burst of spunk. It reminded Michika of her younger days when she had traveled across the country based on a single decision.

Exactly the opposite of what she was doing now. Yes sir, this entire trip was pre-planned, prepared for from the day it was conceived. That the only clothes she'd brought with her were kimonos was a simple mistake. After all, she'd been planning to visit Kyou-chan and there were lots of other clothes waiting for her there. All of them Kyou's, of course, but they were sisters. Surely the girl wouldn't mind. As for leaving behind her bo staff, the only weapon she'd had since leaving the Shibun... that was just a fluke. Then there was the other half of her supplies... but that didn't mean she'd gone racing out of the house at the first sign of trouble.

Oh well, so much for being responsible. Michika lowered her head and sighed.

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"Shit! What was that for?!"

"You know exactly what that was for, you bonehead!!"

Suddenly, the clinic seemed extremely claustrophobic as Megumi fumed, the waves of her anger filling the room. Sano dropped his arm from where it had blocked the flying book, but remained tensed to block anymore incoming objects. He was a bit surprised when he saw that none were forthcoming. Megumi wasn't nearly as physical in her violence as Kaoru, but instead, her words would grow more searing, able to cut through almost any man.

Unless you were an asexual, homicidal bastard like Saito. But that was another matter entirely.

Back to the matter at hand, Sano thought he was very undeserving of this treatment. He had been off doing something good and important for the future of Japan. One would think that would be somewhat appreciated. But no. The only thanks he gets is a "Oh, look Sano's back", "Who'd you bum off this time?", and a book to the head. Truth be told, Sano was feeling a little unloved right now.

"Now look here, fox. I had to go-"

"I understand that," Megumi hissed, "but you could have at least told someone where you were going! Or even that you were leaving at all!" Her eyes narrowed dangerously, angry fire dancing in her brown eyes.

"I couldn't! They would have attacked you and the others, trying to find out my whereabouts."

Megumi frowned and gestured vaguely towards something. "What about Ken-san? You could have told him. He can protect himself from whatever those bastards throw at him."

Sanosuke shook his head. "Maybe so, but you know as well as I that they wouldn't have attacked him. They would have gone after Jou-chan and the kid. As smart as Kenshin is, you know he would had run off alone to take apart whatever was threatening his family."

Megumi nodded. "Yes, I know. I just... Everyone was worried sick about you, Sano," she replied quietly.

Sano smiled knowingly and relaxed now that Megumi's anger had subsided. "I know and for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Megumi lowered her head, allowing her bangs to cover the tears gathering in her eyes. "It's alright, Sano. You're just picking up some bad habits from Ken-san, I guess."

Sano smirked and shrugged. "Heh. Maybe." Sano peered around the clinic, seemingly searching for something. "I've recently come into some money, so how about I treat you to lunch tomorrow? Then you can tell me all about how worried you were. What do you say, fox?"

A smile tugged at Megumi's lips. "Who said I was worried about your sorry ass?"

"You know you were, admit it."

"I was not."

"Whatever you say, fox."

"Idiot."

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Kenshin sat, perched in a tree along one of the dojo walls. Scanning the street one more time, he sighed in relief when nothing seemed out of the ordinary. All day, there just seemed to be this procession of strong ki's. It had started with Aoshi and Saito's, but both had remained outside the dojo, apparently observing.

His family weren't trained to sense ki's; at least, not the way he was. As for their two guests... If Michika felt them, she didn't let on. Kyouki had seemed withdrawn, but he couldn't decide if it was because she was sensing them or if it was simply a reaction to this morning's encounter with the Nentou.

He truly did feel sorry for the girl. Amnesia had to be hard on anyone, but for someone with her past, it had to be abnormally so. Especially since she had only had a couple day's time thus far for everything to sink in. He had offered her someone to talk to, but she had yet to come to him. Somehow, Kenshin didn't think she would. Her pain was her own. He felt it safe to assume this was the partial cause for her behavior. It was a trait he himself was infamous for, earning him more than knock on the head from Kaoru.

Movement from the direction of the house caught his attention. He spotted Kaoru walking down one of the outer halls; she must have just finished her bath. He watched as she ran her fingers through her ebony hair, freeing it of at least a few tangles before she got to her room. The repeated movement had an almost hypnotic effect, calming Kenshin's nerves in a way most things couldn't.

So much so, in fact, that it took a second for the other figure moving about the yard to register. By the time he realized there had been another person out and about, they'd already slipped through the dojo gates. Kenshin was about to follow when a quiet voice from beneath him stopped him.

"Heel, Dog-boy. There's no need for you to go bounding off into the night."

Kenshin frowned down at Michika, more than ready to vocalize the list of reasons why he should.

"It's just Kyou-chan, after all."

The growing list of reasons.

"And stop scowling at me like that. It makes me feel unwanted."

You are, Kenshin snickered mentally, but schooled his face back to it's former frown.

Michika smiled brightly. "Better. Now, as I was saying, you shouldn't worry so much." The Karada gestured vaguely towards the gates. "She's just going to get a piece of herself back, is all."

He cocked an eyebrow curiously at her, sweeping the area with his senses one last time before slipping out of the tree. "By 'a piece of herself', do you mean her memory?"

Michika's eyes glittered mischievously in the dark. "A small portion of it, yes."

Kenshin stared at her with an intensity she was unused to, silently conveying his questions. She steeled herself for what she about to do, but felt guilty all the same. Even if she hadn't known what the man had looked like or what name he was living under, she'd kept tabs on him, just as she had done with Kyouki. His health had been mentioned in passing, something Michika hadn't really placed a lot of importance on worrying about at the time. Which only made her feel worse, considering what she was about to do.

Still, he was her only choice at this point. She'd considered all the others and there simply weren't any other options. Her own family was completely out of the question, as were complete strangers. Or Saito, for that matter. If she was going to give the keys to Kyouki's memory to someone, they had to be know what they were getting into and be able to defend themselves properly if needed. And not be evil, sadistic assholes.

Yahiko and this friend of theirs, Misao, were not suitable choices, as they were too young to bear such burdens. Megumi didn't seem to like Kyouki very much, and though Michika didn't really think the woman would betray Kyou, there was still a bit of doubt niggling at Michika's mind. She'd considered Sano briefly before vehemently deciding against it. That idiot would probably give up in the information in a bout of frustration or anger. Kaoru seemed viable, though. She could adequately defend herself and was on friendly terms with Michika's little sister.

However, choosing Kaoru would make her a target. That was something she didn't think Kenshin would appreciate and would probably be the fast track to getting put on his 'people he would happily break his vow to kill' list.

So that left Dog-boy.

Michika would have been more than happy not to bother the redhead, but Saito did have a point. What if she died for some reason? There would be no one to retrieve Kyou-chan's memory. That wasn't a very inviting prospect considering how many people now knew of Kyouki's past. So she was resigned to explain the situation regarding Kyou's memories to the rurouni, who accepted the information with his usual stoic silence. He did grimace slightly when she mentioned that Saito knew one of the phrases, but she calmed him with explanation of what part of the Rei's memory that would trigger. In fact, he grinned at the idea of what Saito would be forced to deal with when he used that particular key phrase.

"Sessha wonders, though, Michika-dono," he started, shifting slightly in his spot on the porch he'd retreated to during the long explanation, "what will happen when she regains those memories, de gozaru ka?"

Michika sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. I never did this sort of thing before Kyou-chan and I haven't done it since." She ground the toe of her sandal into the dirt a bit, as if trying to dig up the answers. "At the time that I was planning to take apart Kyouki's memories, I thought perhaps that she would automatically integrate the recovered memories with her new ones." Michika glared at the dirt for not giving her what she desired and shook her head. "When I was actually sealing her memories, I began to suspect that such wouldn't be the case. That's the reason for the sixth phrase." She allowed a slight smirk to grace her lips. "It'll force the new and old memories to share their living space, if need be."

Kenshin seemed to be perpetually frowning at her today. "Is that safe, Michika-dono?"

She shrugged. "No clue. However, if those memories don't form together, then we could have a potentially dangerous problem on our hands, depending on which set of memories she becomes trapped in." Michika wrinkled her nose. "For all I know, forcing that could send her into a coma." She turned to grin at Kenshin. "Better that than having to deal with a confused assassin, if you ask me."

Kenshin looked mournfully up at Michika, making her grin falter and slip away. "That doesn't seem very fair to Kyouki, de gozaru yo."

Michika bowed her head and picked at her borrowed kimono. "I know. That's why I'm hoping for the best."

Both glanced over as the gates opened once more, allowing the shadowed form of Kyouki to slip through. She peered about for a moment, seeming unsure of something as she closed the gates behind her. When she spotted Kenshin and Michika watching, she shuffled over, her steps slowed by the cream-colored kimono she wore.

Michika peered down at the lowered head of her sister and arched an eyebrow. "Well?"

There was a sniffling sound in response, making Kenshin and Michika glance at each, confused. Kyouki lifted a hand to brush her bangs away from her face and glare up at her older sister with unshed tears in her eyes. "Why did you have to send me to Saito? He was mean and scary!"

Michika's eye twitched as she watched Kenshin stand to comfort the girl. Mean...? Scary...? Blatantly displayed now was a child's ability to point out the obvious. 'Pink in the summer rain' had been the phrase to unlock Kyouki's child-like self. That Kyouki hadn't come home screeching and throwing a fit was a good sign. It meant that more than likely, Kyou-chan would not become locked in her memories.

Still, the childish maturity the girl showed now could be a sign of things to come. In which case, while life had not just plummeted into the bowels of hell, it promised to be a pain in Michika's ass. "Well, shit."

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A/N: No, I'm not dead. Just incredibly lazy with a short attention and no memory to speak of. >_> Anyways, I actually had most of this chapter done a week ago... I think... but that last part insisted it be tacked on before I posted. And after insisting that, it decided to be an obsinate ass and not let me type it. *eye twitches* I think I may just set fire to it for being such a pain...

Cymberleah: It's a little late on the 'not worshipping' part. You already have a fan club, after all. *flashes her Author Lady Official Fan Club card* Hehe. I'm glad I got the Soujiro part... really, I am. I love Soujiro and I'd hate to have gotten him out of character.

Echidna: SavetheTurkeys! It's been so long! (part of that's my fault, I know... -_-;), but I was glad that I made your day. And being evil takes a lot of work! At least, is it when you're trying to be good at it! Why do you think every great bad guy has a paper shredder? Or at least, a good box of matches handy. >=D Hehe.

MaraJadeBlu: I'm surprising myself as well! Usually, I can only manage a couple pages... but not counting this chapter, I have about 130 pages in 10pt font. I'm quite proud of myself for this! Yeah, I said canon pairings and I'm sticking with it. Even if it doesn't seem like it at times. Mix and matching characters from the actual series are fine, but I tend to be horribly against pairings with original characters. It usually just ends up pissing me off. There are exceptions, though. Example: Cymberleah's fic. >_> I can't really think of any others right now... As for Natsuo, trust me, you'll eventually be happy. As for that one sentence... a typo is possible. I suppose I should have put 'had' in there couple times. -_-; I humbly ask that you excuse my grammar and typos... When you spend all your time alone, not talking to anyone, grammar and the like seem to go into a decline. Hehe. No, you're not supposed to know whose mother that was. That doesn't mean you won't guess it, though.

ColbyWolf: I can understand why the OC's would be that way... *holds up a Magic card that looks suspiciously home-made and starts reading from it* Dark Armageddon. Return all OC's on the board to the Graveyard. One high-level character from hand may be sacrificed to void this effect, however all characters become tapped. *grins* Teehee. *sweatdrops* Ok, I've been playing too much Magic these past couple of days... Anyways, point is, it'll become easier to keep track of soon. *waves a pennet with Kyou, Yuki, and Haru on it* Yes! Rabid Furuba fan! I've seen up to Ep. 15, I think. Although, the reason Kyouki's name keeps getting shortened is cause I'm a fan of only using one syllable when speaking... -_-; Anyways, glad you're enjoying it thus far! *grins* Just wait til you get to chapter 27 - Of Dreams and Drugs. I think you'll really enjoy that one. *cackles*

Ok. I've rambled enough for one day and I'm sure everyone tired of listening to me, anyways. You came here to read a story, not listen to me mouth off about this and that. *cries* I feel so unloved! *smiles* Kidding! Thanks everyone for reading! See ya next chappie!

And of course, thanks to Author Lady for her ever-vigilant watch for my typo demon. Grrr, bad typo demon.